Broken Lives
by Seeria Nix
Summary: Lily and Damien are caught in the middle of a hostage situation in the local mall. When the terroist says he is going to eliminate one person each fifteen minutes, starting with Damien and Lily, will they live? LAST CHAPTER UP!
1. LadyBug

Hi, there! This is my first HSM fic, although I do have quite a lot of ideas. I want to make this selection on one of the most sucessful in the ammount of fics. It is growing quickly, but if everyone helps, we can make iot grow quicker. And have a lot of good fics to read. Oh, and was it just me, or did Gabriella's mother look...pregnant, in the movie. And I just cannot believe that Zac Efron kissed, _kissed_, Sharpay's character in The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody! Oh, well. It is a stupid show, anyway. _Ducks to avoid large objects being thrown at her from fans of the show._

This is just a story on my point of view of what could have happened. In this fic, Troy's dad is still not happy about Troy singing withGabriella. He tries to break them up, can Gabriella and Troy overcome this? Also, Kelsi and Jason grow closer, and Chad and Taylor's relationship grows.

**P.S. **I do not have a beta, all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Troy took a deep breath as he twisted the door knob. He knew his parents were going to be mad. He was late again. After practicing basketball with the team for a few hours, he had left for Gabriella's house. He braced himself for what he knew was coming. 

"Troy! You are late, again!" Troy looked up into the face of his father. After winning the championships, Troy's dad had not said much about his singing. That had been two weeks ago, and the excitment had started to wear away. Troy's father was not supporting his singing, and worst of all, Gabriella. He still thought that she was destracting him from basketball. He didn't know how wrong he was. Troy was most entergetic when he was around Gabriella, doing the best with basketball he had ever done.

"Sorry, dad. I was-" He was cut off by his father screaming again.

"Was what? With that Gabriella girl again! Troy, we have another game coming up!"

"Is that all you ever think about? Basketball? I did too, at one time. But I have learned there is more life than basketball, dad. When I am singing, all of the pressure that I feel when I am in the gym practicing basketball with you and the guys goes away. I feel free, not crushed by you to win tha game." Troy paused,calming down a little, then he continued."What if I quit?"

"What?" Jack asked, stunned that his own son would give up basketball for _singing_.

"What if I quit? Dad, all I have known my whole life is basketball. As soon as I was old anough to walk, you had a ball in my hands. By the time I was five, I was making my first hoops. I don't want to do_ just_ that anymore, I want to do more with my life, not just practice ball. There is just too much pressure, I don't think I can do that anymore." He sighed and looked at the floor.

"Is this about Gabriella?" Jack looked frustrated, but contained his screaming long anough for Tryo to answer. Troy just sighed in annoyance and stared walking up the stairs.

* * *

Troy hurried out of his house quickly the next morning. It was a Sutarday, and him, Chad, Taylor, Kelsi, Jason and Gabriella had plans to go to the carnival. It was going to be great. The only down side was that Kelsi had to take her four-year-old brother, Zak. He was loud, annoying, and hyper. Always. They met at the school. 

"Hey, dude. Thank you for gracing us with your presence. Thought you would never show." Chad clapped him on the back and laughed. Troy forced a smile.

"Sorry, had to sneak out." Chad's smile fell.

"Is your dad bothering you about the singing thing again?"

"Yea, a little." Gabriella walked over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before linking her arm with his. "Hey, Gabriella."

"Hello. Lets get going, shall we?" Troy nodded and they all started off. Zak was beng loud again.

"But, Kelsi, I don't wanna hold your hand, girls have cooties!" He shoved away from her and stuck out his bottom lip, Jason almost crashing into him from the sudden stop. He sighed and looked down at the little brown headed kid.

"Look here, sqirt." He did not say it meanly, sqirt was just his nickname for Zak. "If I hold her hand, will you?" Zak seemed to think this over for a minute. Everyone had stopped and was not looking at the three. Kelsi was smillng.Then Zakwalked over to Kelsi and looked up at Jason.

"Ok, I am waiting for you to hold up your end of the deal." Jason almost laughed at the totally serious look on Zak's face, but took Kelsi's hand, anyway. Troy leaned closer to Gabriella and wispered in her ear.

"Well, I wonderif these two are going to ger their heads on straight, or if I am going to have to shove them in a closet together." Gabriella smiled, trying to hold back a laugh. Zak seemed to accept this, although he stood as far away from Kelsi as possible. Kelsi had started wearing her hair down, and had gotten rid of the horrible hat she always wore. He glasses had been replaced with contact lenses, and her wardrode was looking more and more human every day. They walked, everyone chatting quietly to each other, the rest of the way to the carnival. When they arrived, everyone paid and started walking around the fairgrounds.

"Troy! Lets go onto the Teacup!" Gabriella shreiked, running, and pulling Troy along with her. Although it sounded like a relativlly calm ride, Troy was supprised when they reached it.

"Um...Gabriella? I have never had a strong stomach, I don't know if this is such a good idea..." Gabriella ignored him and paid for the two. They entered the ride and soon enough it was full. It started spigging in large, fast circles and the teacups they were sitting in spun up and down andside to side. Troy suddenly felt like he shouldn't have eaten such a large breakfast. When the ride was over, he stumbled out of the ride.

"Man, you don't look so good." Chad siad, holding back a smile. Gabriella just grinned and skipped out of the teacup.

"Lets get back on." She said.

"Never...again..." That was when he lost it. He ran over to the nearest trashcan and emptied the entire contents of his stomach into it. Gabriella's smile fell and she ran over in concern.

"Are you OK?" She bent down on the ground to where Troy had dropped.

"I'll live," Troy said. Gabriella stood and put out her hand. Troy took it and stood with her. Chad couldn't take it any more. He burst out laughing and soon everyone was joining in. That is, everyone besides Troy, who was still to busy trying not to throw up again. Gabriella even cracked a smile. After Troy was feeling better, they all walked over to a large roller coaster. Troy looked up at it wearily.

"Chad..." He moaned.

"Oh, come on, man! Just ths once." Little Zac was jumping up and down, he had forgotten his close proximity to his sister, and was now running around in circles, using her leg as support.

"Coaster! Coaster! Pwease, Twoy?" Troy smiled at the little kid. His sisters was the only name he could pronounce right. Chad was Cad, Jason was 'ason, Gabriella was Gabbi, and Taylor was Waylor. Troy and Gabriella didn't mind their nicknames much, but Taylor could care less for hers. Zac continued to look at up Troy, his lip sticking out. Troy was supprised that he could even stick his lip out that far.

"Are you even aloud on that thing? You are what...four?"

"Almost five!" Zac exclamed proudly, holding up four fingers. Then he frowned, counting them and sticking another one up. "Swee?" Troy sighed.

"Come on," Taylor spoke up. "It won't kill you. Besides, I think everything you have eaten in the past two days is residing in that trash can over there." Chad laughed and walked over, looping his arm around his best friend.

"Tell you what, if you throw up, I swear, I will go on that pink little ladybug ride oevr there."

* * *

"I hate you!" Chad said, asTroy and Taylorpushed him over to the small ride. There were several little girls lined up outside it, giggling anf pointing at him as they waited for the man to open the gate so they could get on the little ladybugs. 

"Well, I won, fair and square," Troy laughed and Taylor joined in. Even Jason, Gabriella and Kelsi, who were standing as far away from the ride as possible, laughed along.

"I still hate you." Chad shreiked as his friend and girlfriend pushed him into the door of the ride. Troy and Taylor ran back to the group as Chad scooted as far away from the little girl he was sitting beside as possible. The ride started up, and there were several girlish shrieks as it went up to an average of ten miles an hour. The ladybug seats suddenly sprouted wings as it went in circles. Zak stuffed his fingers in him mouth and pointed to Chad, who had his arms crossed and was glaring at Troy each time he passed their way.

"I think it fits him well," Taylor said. Gabriella's grin grew as she started walking toward the snack shack. Troy followed, not wanting to be near Chad when he finished the ride. Sure, he was going to be teased at school when everyone found out about his stomach problem, but Chad was going to be picked on for the rest of his life. Kelsi and Taylor stayed where they were.

"So, do you think he is going to kill me for this?" Troy asked Gabriella.

"I don't know. Personally, I think it is not near enough to be considered payback. I mean, you were in the restroom for near twenty minutes. I guess you really meant it when you said that you don't have a strong stomach." Troy looked over at her and smirked.

"Don't rub it in. By the way, where is Zak?"

"I don't know. Last I saw him, he was helping you push Chad into the ladybug ride." They both turned around and looked at the ride. Scanning the ladybugs, Troy gasped.

"Zak is on the ride!"

"Oh. My. Gosh. I didn't think it was even humanly possible. Zak? Isn't he the one that is afraid of cooties?" Gabriella asked, a look of amusment on her face.

"Well, he got over that one quick."

"Yup." They turned back to the candy counter.

"What do you want?" The man asked. His name tag read 'Matt'. Troy noted the bordness in his voice.

"Um...Cotten candy." Gabriella said, pulling out her change purse.

"I'll have one, too. Gabriella, let me get it." He took out his wallet and paid the man before Gabriella could protest. He handed her the cotten candy and took his own. They started walking back to the pink ride, which Chad had just gotten off of. On his head was a pink hat in the shape of a ladybug.

"Nice hat!" Troy said, clapping had on the back. Chad grabbed his hat off and threw it ont he ground, jumping up and down on it. Taylor looked at him in amusement.

"Lets go home." Everyone agreed, not wanting to argue with Chad at the moment.

* * *

"Hey, Gabbi!" Ms. Montez opened the door to see her daugther and Troy. "What a nice surprise. Why are you home so early?" Gabriella grinned and Troy ducked his head to hide a laugh. 

"Oh, long story." Ms. Montez opened the door enough to let them inside and led them over to the couch. They both took a seat and Ms. Montez sat opposite from them on the love seat, curious as to what had happened, if anything.

"Well, lets start from the beginning." Troy said, about to start the tale before Gabriella interupted.

"Troy doesn't have a strong stomach, and he failed to mention this before I pulled him onto the Teacup." Ms. Montez didn't question this, as she knew her daugther loved the teacup. Troy took his turn and interupted.

"I did to, you just didn't listen to me." Gabriella ignored him and continued.

"Well, after he ridded himself of his brerakfast," Ms. Montez cracked a smile at that. "Chad and Zak conspired to make him ride a roller coaster. The deal was that if Troy threw up again, Chad would ride the Ladybug. Anyway, it was hard to shove him on the bright pink ride, but we got him on it in the end. After it was done, Chad looked like he was going to strangle anyone who looked at him strangly. He suggested we all go home, and as you can guess, none of us wanted to argue with him."

"Well, interesting tale. Troy, don't you have practice soon?"

"Ah...well...me and my dad aren't on such good terms right now, so I am kinda avoiding him at the moment."

"Whats wrong?"

"Well, the musical practice got in the way of basketball, and he blew up in my face. I threatened to quit, and that was the end of that conversation." Troy clapped his hands together and looked at the floor, not wanting to meet either Gabriella or Ms. Montez.

"Quit?" Gabriella asked, totally suprised.

"Yea, I don't think I can do it much longer. There is just to much pressure." He laughed slightly. "Sometimes I think that someday it is going to be _way _to much pressure, and I am just going to lose it, taking it out on everyone close to me."

"Don't worry, Troy. We'll work something out." Gabriella assured him, taking his hand.

"Troy? Would you like to stay for a while? I am going to start lunch soon."

"Thank you, Ms. Montez. I would love to." He looked up and smiled a little.

"Well, it will take a while, so why don't you two find something to do?" Gabriella and Troy nodded. They stood and started walking upstairs. Ms. Montezfrowned and walked into the kitchen.

* * *

"Troy, if it is causing problems with your father, I think we should quit the musical." Gabriella said.

"What? No, if my dad can't handle it, thats his problem. I want to do this. When I am singing with you, all of the poressure just...goes away. It's nice to take a break from it all." Gabriella nodded and leaned over, resting her head on Troy's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her back and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, glad that Gabriella hadn't argued. This was not the end of it, and he knew it.

* * *

So? How did I do? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Either way, I would love a few reviews. This is my first HSM fic, and I would love some helpful reviews. Also, this took awhile to type up, so I would like to know if people are even reading it. Thx and I will have the next chapter up soon! 


	2. Civil War

Hello! I'm baaack! Thank you all for the wonderul reviews.

Have fun! In this chapter, trouble arises between the Boltens' and Montezs'. Oh, and Troy has a accident.

**P.S. **I do not have a beta, all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Troy and Gabriella were just about to declair total bordem when a call from Ms. Montez (A.N: I really need to give her a name) called from downstairs. 

"Dinner!" Troy had stayed for lunch, and then the two of them had gone back upstairs to practice for the musical. That had ended an hour ago, and they entertained themselves telling really dull, boring, stupid jokes. Only a few of them actually had the two of them laughing. Gabriella threw a fist in the air and jumped off of the bed, running out of the door and down the stairs. Troy lifted himself from his lying position on the rather comfortable floor and streached, risaing his hands above his head. Walking out of the door, he found Gabriella setting the table for her mother.

"Hello," Ms. Montez said. "Careful, I just mo-" To late. Troy let out a yell of surprise as he slipped on the wet floor that Ms. Montez had just mopped. Gabriella gasped and ran over, leaning down beside him.

"Meant to do that..." He gasped, dropping his head to the floor and hissing in pain.

"Troy! Are you OK?" Ms. Montez joined her daugther beside Troy, who was trying to fight back tears of pain.

"No, I ...don't think so."

"What hurts?" Ms. Montez asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"My leg." Troy said, trying to sit up, but not having much luck. He fell back to the floor. "Yea, I think I am just going to stay here for a bit." Gabriella and Ms. Montez took him under each arm and helped him sit up. He gasped as his leg was jarred, grabbing it with his hands.

"I am _so_ sorry, Troy. I should have warned you sooner. Here, let me see it." She started probing his leg, pushing it until she found the tender spot. It was right above his knee.

"S'ok. I'll live. Could I have some asprin, though?" Gabriella nodded and stood up, going over to one of the cupboards and pulling out a small white bottle, opening it and taking out a few of the pills. After filling a glass with water, she walked back over to Troy and handed them to him. He took it gratefully and swallowed the pills.

"Do you think you need to go to the hospital?" Gabriella asked, concerned.

"Nah, my dad will just bug me for hours if I do that. Oh, crap. This means I won't be able to make practice!" Troy said, realizing his father was going to be even more mad, if that was possible. He was never totally serious about quitting, although he had considered it quite a few times, and might again in the future.

"Are you sure, Troy? Your leg might be broken."

"Yea, I'll be fine. Just...help me up." Ms. Montez looked doubtful, but helped him up nonetheless. Troy let go of her and started to walk across the room, without support. He got a total of two steps before his leg colapsed beneath him and he fell to the ground. "Come to think of it, maybe..."

"Ok, Gabbi, go get the car started up. Troy, where did you leave your coat and shoes?"

* * *

They were sitting inside the emergency room, Troy rearly falling off of the edge of the chair it was so packed. A docter came into the waiting room and looked up from his chart. 

"Troy Bolten?"

"Yea, thats me." Gabriella and Ms. Montez got up with him and helped him to the bed that the doctor had pointed to.

"I'm Dr. Shanchez, what seems to be the problem?"

"My leg." Troy responded, looking around. The bed he was sitting on was one of three in a rather large room. An old man of about sixty sat in the bed next to him, and the one in the far corner was empty. Dr. Shanchez nodded and mumbled a few things, jolting stuff down on his chart.

"Any previous injurts?"

"No...well, I broke my arm in third grade."

"Ok, um...are you his mother?" The docter pointed to Ms. Montez.

"No, I'm Karen Montez, and this is my daugther, Gabriella, Troy's girlfriend." Gabriella blushed slightly when she said it, but Troy looked like he hadn't even heard. He was still looking around at the room and the ones beyond it.

"Ok. We will need to contact his parents. Do you know their phone number?" Karen nodded. "Good, you can use the phone over there." He pointed to a black, cordless phone on the far wall. "Troy, you have had an x-ray before, right?" Troy nodded. "Good. We will be taking you to get one of your leg shortly. I will be back in a minute." He walked out of the room just as Troy's dad picked up the phone. Karen handed it to Troy.

"Hi, dad." He closed his eye's, knowing what was going to happen.

"Troy! Where were you? Your mother has been very worried!" Troy slapped his forehead with his free hand. He had forgotten to call his parents.

"Sorry, dad. Forgot to call you."

"Are you at Gabriella's house?"

"No, I am in the Hospital."

"Are you OK?" His dad seemes to forget all of his rage, suddenly concerned for his son. "What happened? I'll be right over with your mother.

"No, dad. I'm fine. I just hurt my leg," Troy said.

"Still, me and your mother will be there as soon as possible...who is there with you? And what happened?"

"Ms. Montez an Gabriella are here, and I slipped on their kitchen floor." Troy sighed again, holding the phone away and sticking a finger in his ear. You could hear the loud yells coming from the other side of the reciever. Gabriella winced and moved slightly away from Troy. "Dad, please stop shouting." There was another pause, in which the screaming stopped, but you could still hear Jack. "Fine, dad. See you soon." He gave the phone back to Karen and looked at the floor. "Well, that went well." He joked.

"Troy, why was your dad yelling?" Gabriella asked. However, her answer was postponed as the door opened and Dr. Shanchez waslked in with a wheelchair.

"What is that for?" Troy asked, pointing at it from his spot on the bed.

"To take you up to x-ray."

"Do I have to ride in it? Can't I walk?" The docter shook his head and Troy, reculently, sat in the wheelchair. Positioning himself so his leg was not throbing, he looke up at the docter.

"My mom and dad will be here soon. Could you look out for them?"Dr. Shancheznodded and kicked the kickstand (A.N. Don't know what it is called) on the wheelchair and they started moving. Ms. Montez and Gabriella walked out and went to sit in the waiting room until Troy was out, or his parents came. Neither one was looking forward to the latter. After a few minutes, Gabriella stood and started pacing around. Just as she was about to lose it from bordem, two people walked through the door. It was Jack and (don't know her real name) Sara. Ms.Montez stood and walked over to them.

"Where is Troy?" Jack demanded. Gabriella decided to stay as far away from them as possible and waited by the vending machines.

"He's getting his leg x-rayed right now. Listen, I am really sorry. I had just mopped, and forgot to warn Troy. I am so sorry." Ms. Montex apolagized again.

"Why was he over there in the first place?" Jack asked coldly, Sara touched his arm. He shugged it off.

"He came over because he was afraid of you and didn't want to meet you face to face yet," Ms. Montez said boldly. "He was going to go home after dinner."

"Why didn't he call and say where he was?" Sara asked, stepping front of her husband and looking Ms. Montez in the eye. She was much kinder than Jack.

"He forgot, I guess." She was just about to go on when she saw Troy waving, he was being rolled in on his wheelchair. Appearently they were done. "Why don't you ask him yourself." Jack pushed past them and walked up to the man at the front desk.

"I am sorry for Jask's behavior, he isn't usually like this." Sara said, looking over in Gabriells's direction. She was looking at the floor, not wanting to meet Sara's eye. "It's ok, honey, I don't bite." Gabriella looked up and started walking slowly up to Sara. Standing by her mom, Gabriella finally looked Sara in the eye.

"Hello, Ms. Bolten."

"Hello, Gabriella. I have heard a lot about you from Troy." Gabriella nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable with Sara. "I do not feel the same way as my husband. I think basketball has always been controlling Troy's life. I think it is good he is meeting new people and getting involved in new stuff." Gabriella looked up sharply. Did Ms. Bolten just say she approved of Gabriella and the musical? Couldn't be...

"Thanks." She muttered under her breath.

* * *

It was another two hours before Troy was realesed. Those hours were full of arguements, bad news and more ranting from Troy's dad. Troy was glad to be out of there, besides the point that his leg was broken in two places, he had to go home, and it looked as though a Civil war had started between Ms. Montez and his dad. By the time he had gotten home, it was a wonder that his fathers voice hadn't gone hoarse from whining about 'that Montez girl'. Troy found it best not to interupt. As soon as the car was stopped, Troy opened his door and pulled out his crutches and limped to the front door. Opening it with his key, he started planning how he was going to ger upstairs without killing himself. Soon, he was up in his room and on his computer. Logging onto his favorite chat room, he started up a converation with Chad, who was also logged on. 

_HoopsDude: Hey, Troy, how you been? And why did you change your pen name?_

_HopelesslyConfused: How did you know it was me?_

_HoopsDude: Hello? Big screen poped up when you logged on. I have it set to do that._

_Hopelesslyconfused: Oh. Well, I have bad news, and worse news._

_HoopsDude: Bad first._

_HopelesslyConfused: Broke my leg._

_HoopsDude: You have got to be kidding me!_

_**SDwinner! has logged on**_

_HoopsDude: Uh, Taylor, what does...Duh, that is what your name stands for. Still haven't gotten over that?_

_SDwinner: Nope. Deal with it. Hey, Troy! How you doing?_

_HoopsDude: He broke his leg. Troy, worse news now._

_HopelesslyConfused: Well, it looks as though a civil war has broken out between my family and Gabriella's._

_HoopsDude: Ouch. By the way, how did you break your leg?_

_HopelesslyConfused: Sliped on wet floor at Gabriella's._

**_BookWorm has logged on_**

_BookWorm: Troy, slipped has two __'P's._

_SDwinner: Hey, Gabs. How ya doing?_

_BookWorm: Good. Troy, Civil war is an understatment. My mom is still fuming. In fact, I think I should go now. Sorry for such a short visit!_

_HopelesslyConfused: S'ok. Bye, Gabriella!_

_BookWorm: Good-bye everyone! ((Hugs))_

_SDwinner: See you Monday._

**_BookWorm has logged off_**

_Hopelesslyconfused: Oh, man! I just realized I have two reports I have to do by tommorow! I have got to go!_

**_HopelesslyConfused has logged off_**

_HoopsDude: Ok...well, it looks like it just me and you..._

_SDwinner: Ugh.._

Troy got off of his computer and opened his homwork folder, pulling out one of his reports, wishing it would beMonday already.

* * *

_Well, This is it for now! In the next chapter...Gabriella andTroy fight against Jack to be able to see each other, and Chad, Taylor, Troy and Gabriella try to stage it so Troy still has time to sing. _

_Hope you have fun! Please drop a review! Took me two hours to type up!_


	3. Hurting Me So Much

Hello, me again! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Wahoo! Anyway, this chapter is a little more sad in my opinion, and it will clear a few more things up. And it is a little shorter. Sorry! By the way, I use the song My Immortal by Evanessence. I do not claim any rights to it, although I wish I could.

Well, it is up a little sooner then I had planned. See the wonder reviews do? The more you review, the faster the chapters get up! _Evil laugh_

**P.S.** I do not have a beta, all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Gabriella sat up in her room, it was Monday morning, and she was looking forward to school. Gosh, she had never though she would hear those words, even if she had just though them. Throughout the weekend, she hadn't even been able to call Troy. His dad would always pick up and say Troy was not available. What did he have against her? From the first moment Coach Bolten and Gabriella met, they all knew things were going to be strained between them, but no one ever thought it would go this far. Man, did that guy hold a grudge. 

"Gabbi! Breakfast is ready!" Gabriella heaved a sigh and walked down stairs, throwing her backpack over her shoulder on her way. When she reached the kitchen, she looked down at the floor.

"It's OK, Gabbi. The floor is dry." Gabriella smiled a little and sat down at the table. Her mom placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her. After eating, Gabriella ran outside just in time to catch the bus. She really didn't want detention on top of everything else that was going on. When they arrived at school, she looked around for Troy. Not being able to find him, she ran to her first class, Ms. Darbus's.

"Thank you for joining us, Ms. Montez. Do you know where Mr. Bolten is?" Gabriella noticed just then that he was not in class. She shook her head and sat down at her seat, noticing that Ryan, Jason and Kelsi were also gone. "Well, he must be sick as well." Class carried on as usual that day, besides the point that Sharpay left her alone and she did not have singing practice because of Kelsi's absense. When the final bell rang, Gabriella jumped from her seat and quickly exited the school, wanting some freash air. All in all, school had sucked that day. Wanting to clear her mind, she decided to walk home.

As she was walking, she saw Troy's house in the distance. Wanting to know what was so wrong that he would miss school, she decided to drop by, not knowing what a bad idea it was. Reaching the front door, she reached out a hand and knocked. The door was answered by Mr. Bolten. Gabriella gulped and looked at the ground.

"Hello, Mr. Bolten. Um, Troy wasn't in school today. Do you know whats wrong?"

"Huh? He went to school today. Sure he missed free period workout, but I thought that was because of his _singing thing_. What do you mean he wasn't in school?"

"Well, I thought he was sick. Something has been going around school, so I just thought..." Just then Mrs. Bolten came to the door.

"Well, hello sweetie." She then saw the look of worry on both Gabriella and her husbands faces and knew something was wrong. "What?"

"Troy skipped school." Mr. Bolten said, walking over to the phone and picking it up. Dialing Troy's cell phone, he tapped his fingers impaitently on the wall. Although Mr. Bolten had taken it from over the weekend, he had given Troy back his cell phone for school. After a minute, he slammed the phone down and walked back over to Mrs. Bolten and Gabriella.

"No luck?" Mrs. Bolten asked, nervously playing with her hands.

"No. I'm giving him two hours, then I am calling all of his friends. Ms. Montez, were all of his friends at school today?" Jack asked, thinking that he might have gone over to one of their houses.

"I think so...I don't know all of his frineds, so I am not sure." She was still avoiding Mr. Bolten's gaze.

"Damn. Well, if he ran away, he couldn't have gotten far, his leg being broken and all." He glared at Gabriella as he said this. Mrs. Bolten jabbed her husband in the arm. He broke his gaze long enough to look at his wife, as if to say 'What did you so that for?' and rub his arm.

"Gabriella, sweetie, do you know where he might have gone? Are you sure you didn't see him at school today?"

"I didn't see him today, I'm positive.Neither did Taylor or Chad. I asked them both." Mrs. Bolten nodded.

"Ms. Montez, I think you'd better go home. I think you have caused enough damage in these past few days." Gabriella fought back tears, but nodded and ran out of the house.

* * *

It was now dark, ten at night, and Gabriella still hadn't heard much from the Boltens. Mrs. Bolten had called once to tell her that they had not heard much from Troy, but they were still looking. She was just about to go to bed when she heard rusling from a bush below. Looking down, she saw a head. Cound it be? Yes! Gabriella motioned for Troy to come on up, that it was safe. He nodded and started climbing up the balcony. How he was doing it with his leg broken, would forever be a mystery to her. As soon as he reached the top, Gabriella threw her arms around him. 

"Troy! We were all so worried!" Troygasped in pain, but hugged her back.

"Gabriella, please don't be so loud. I don't wan't anyone to know I am here." Gabriella pulled back, looking at him weirdly. He was favoring his leg, as if he had been walking on it for a while and it was huting him badly.

"Why not?"

"Gabriella, I have thought about this a lot, and I am sorry. I can't do it anymore. I'm running away."

"What? No, Troy, please."

"I am so sorry. I can't so it, I have been thinking about this since Saturday, and it is the only way. My dad has brought it way to far." Troy paused, not sure if he should tell Gabriella. Deciding that it was the least he could do, he did. "He hit me."

"What! Troy, you have to tell someone. Running away is not the answer, please, don't leave me."Tears were forming in her dark brown eyes.

"I have to. Someday, I will come back, I promise. But I need time to think. The best way is to go away from it all. I am sorry I have to leave you, I really am. I thought it would be easier to leave without seeing you again, but I couldn't to it. I had to drop by and say good-bye." Troy paused again. "I love you, Gabriella."

"I love you, too." Gabriella said, without even needing to think. She did, always had. "Let me come with you."

"What? No. You have to stay, go on with your life. Don't wait for me. Move on." He gave Gabriella one last hug and started climbing down the balcony again, tears slipping from his eyes from both pain, and sadness. Gabriella wastched him.

"No, Troy, please. I love you." He reached the bottom and slipped into the darkness, still moving on his broken leg. Gabriella let her tears fall. He was gone, Troy was gone. Walking over to her bed, she sat down and cried. After almost ten minutes, she stood up and walked out onto the balcony, where she started humming one of her favorite songs, My Immortal. Realizing it said everything she was thinking, she started singing outloud.

_I'm so tired of being here_

_Supressed by all of my childish fears_

_And if you have to leave_

_I wish you would just leave_

_'Cause your presence still lingers here_

_And it won't leave me alone_

_These wonds won't seem to heal_

_This pain is just to real_

_Theres just to much __that time can not erase _

_When you cried I'd _

_Wipe away all of your tears_

_When you screamed I'd _

_Fightaway all of your fears_

_And I held your hand through _

_All of these years_

_But you still have all of me_

_You used to captivate me_

_Byyour resonating mind_

_Now I'm bind by the life you left behind_

_Your face it haunts_

_My oncepleasnt dreams_

_Your voice it chased away_

_All the sanity in me_

_These wonds won't seem to heal_

_This pain is just to real_

_Theres just to much t__hat time can not erase_

_When you cried I'd _

_Wipe away all of your tears_

_When you screamed I'd _

_Fightaway all of your fears_

_And I held your hand through _

_All of these years_

_You still have all of me_

_I've tired so hard to tell m__yself that your gone_

_But though your still with me_

_I've been alone all along_

_When you cired I'd _

_Wipe away all of your tears_

_When you screamed I'd _

_Fight away all of your fears_

_I held your hand through _

_All of these years_

_But you still have all of me..._

Troy sat in the bushes below Gabriella's wondow, realizing just how much he was hurting her. He considered going back for a minute, but he had to do this. It was the best for both of them. If he stayed, all he was doing was huting Gabriella, he had to go. God, this was so hard. Pulling himself away from her beautiful voice, he stood and started silently limping out of her back yard and into the world. He would come back for her, but this was the best thing for both of them now.

* * *

Ahhh! _Ducks objects being thrown at her from fans_ Sorry! Well, I hope you liked it. Please review! I will update fsater! Yahoo! 

Normally, I would reply to me reviews, but I just have too many. Sorry not everything I said would happen in this chapter actually did, It changed at the last moment, but I like this ides better. See you all in the next chapter! Or in reviews...

Next chapter: Gabriella can't seem to pull herdelf back to reality, a postcard comes from Troy, and Mr. Bolten gets reeally mad.


	4. Found and Lost

Me again! Here is the next chapter, I had a lot of trouble deciding what was going to happen. Did I bring Troy back? Well, I had a lot of people threatening me, so you will just have to see.

By the way, where did you get the fish? You know who you are, speak up!

Well, hope you like it. I am thinking of redoing it, but if enough people like it, it will stay. At least this way, I have an idea of what is going to happen next. Oh, and this is not going to end soon, I have really big plans for it. Poor Troy is going to get to know the hospital very well.

**P.S. **I do not have a beta, all mistakes are mine.

* * *

The next few weeks passed slowly for Gabriella, she would wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, then come home and do whatever she felt like doing until bed time. Sharpay and Ryan were practicing the roles for the musical, incase Troy did not show, or Gabriella didn't find anyone to sing with her. She was quiting if Troy was not going to sing with her. God, she just wanted him back. A yell from downstairs pulled her from her thoughts.  
"Gabbi! You have mail!" It was her mom. Slowly pulling herself from her bed, she walked downstairs and met her mom in the kitchen. She was smiling, although Gabriella couldn't think of anything to smile about right now. 

"Who's it from?" Gabriella asked absentmindedly, taking the postcard from her mother. She just motioned for Gabriella to flip it over. There was a letter attached to the other side. As soon as she unhooked the letter, she let out a whoop of joy. "It's from Troy!" She ran over to the couch and flopped down on it, reading and rereading the letter. Ms. Montez smiled and sat beside her.

"What does it say?" Gabriella passed the letter to her without a word.

I miss you all, very much. The reason am sending this to you, Gabriella, instead of my dad is he would probably send it to the FBI as soon as he got it. Although I am not telling you where I am at this time, I am nearby. And though you can't see me, I have seen you a few times. Cheer up! Has my dad cooled down yet? I will come home when he does. Things were getting out of hand. Gabriella, please do not show this to my dad, he would be mad that I told anyone. I went to the doctor, and it turned out that I had a broken rib from the fight. My chest hurts like hell, but I will live. Gabriella, promise me you will be careful around him, I do not want you getting hurt.

Love, Troy

"What fight, Gabbi?" It was just then that Gabriella realized that Troy would not have liked her showing the letter to her mother. Now her mom was just going to be more mad at Mr. Bolten, and Troy was going to be mad at her.

"Mom, forget it. Troy would be mad at me for telling you. He trusted me to keep it a secret." Gabriella knew her mom was going to press, but she could at least try, for Troy.

"Gabbi, if Jack is hurting Troy, someone needs to know. Well, I suspect it is Jack, seeing as how Mrs. Bolten is so kind." Ms. Montez stared at her daugther, knowing she would eventually give in. "Troy won't be mad. If he is not going to tell someone, then it is our place to do so. How would you feel if something serious happened?" Gabriella sighed, taking the letter her mom was offering back to her.

"I would feel guilty. But Troy is away from his dad, he can't hurt him if he doesn't know where he is, mom." Ms. Montez just continued to look at her daugther. "Fine. Troy and his dad got in a fight about something, Troy wouldn't go into details. I guess it didn't turn out to pretty, and Mr. Bolten hit him." Gabriella looked at the ground, she had just told her mom Troy's secret. She knew he wouldn't be mad at her, but he would not have liked it nonetheless.

"Gabbi, don't feel bad." Gabriella nodded, picking herself up off the couch and started walking up the stairs to her room. When she got there, she threw herself onto her bed and reread her letter until she was too tired to keep her eyes open and fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

The next morning things went as usual, except Gabriella had a light in her eyes that had been missing since Troy had left. When she arrived at school, she immediately met up with Taylor and Chad. 

"Any word from Troy?" Taylor asked, doubtfully. It was the first question that they asked each other in the morning.

"Yes!" Gabriella exclaimed happily.

"What? When?" Chad stopped walking, nearly making Taylor bump into him.

"Last night I got a postcard." She was smiling from ear to ear. Pulling out the postcard, she showed it to them. She was not going to show the letter to them, it was a little more personal, but on the postcard was a greeting to everyone. Taylor and Chad read it, then looked back up to Gabriella.

"Does Mr. Bolten know about this?" Gabriella shook her head.

"Do you think you could pretend that it was sent to you? There was a letter attached for me, and Troy figured that if her sent it to his dad, I would never get it. But I think that if he heard it was addressed to me, well, I wouldn't want to be around." Gabriella was a little nervous, playing with her hands.

"Sure, Gabriella. I would be happy to. I will have Taylor doctor it, and I will give it to Mr. Bolten at free period workout.

"Thank you." School carried on as usual that day, Gabriella did not hear anything from Mr. Bolten until lunch. He walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, almost dropping her empty food tray on the floor.

"M-mr. Bolten?" she stuttered.

"Ms. Montez-" He was just about to carry on when the bell rang. Gabriella sighed in relief, apologizing quickly to Mr. Bolten about rushing off, and ran to her next class. Mr. Bolten shook his head and walked off.

The day finished without excitement. Gabriella walked home, stopping every once in a while to look around. She was still confused as to what Troy meant about being able to see her. She thought about it, and it seemed unlikely that he would run away and stay in the same town. But this was Troy, who knew what he would do. Sighing, she walked the rest of the way to her house. Opening the door, she declared that she was home.

"Mom! I'm home!" Her mom pocked her head out from a small room, smiling.

"Hello, Gabbi. Could you help me with this?" Gabriella nodded and dropped her backpack to the floor, going to help her mom. As it ended up, it was painting the walls in the guest room.

* * *

Nearly three weeks later, Gabriella got a call that both gave her hope, and scared her to death. She picked up the phone, handing it to her mom when the man on the other end asked her too. 

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Dr. Hemingway. Um, are you Troy Bolten's mother?"

"No." Ms. Montez said, confused as to why anyone would ask that.

"Oh. Well, I guess I got the wrong number. Sorry."

"Wait, I can give a message to them, I know them personally." The thought of someone calling from the hospital concerning Troy scared her. Was he hurt? Worse?

"It is personal information. We found this phone number in his wallet, we thought it belonged to a family member. Can you give me their phone number?"

"Yes." She recited the number that she had memorized from when Troy would call Gabriella every day. Saying good-bye to the man on the other end, she placed the phone in the holder. She turned to Gabriella, who was watching her with intrest.

"Mom, who was that?"

"That was the hospital. I think they found Troy." Gabriella was suddenly worried.

"Is he OK?"

"I don't know. The doctor wouldn't tell me. He said it was personal information. I am going to call the Boltens in a minute." They waited until they could be sure that the doctor was through calling them, and dialed the number. Mrs. Bolten picked up on the forth ring. She sounded like she had been crying.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Bolten. Is Troy OK? The hospital accadently called us, but wouldn't go into details."

"He was in an accident." She paused. "He was shot. Um, we have to go. Would you like to meet us at the hospital?"

"Yes. Thank you very much." She hung up and Ms. Montez turned to her daugther, who's eyes were filled with emotion.

"Mom, is he OK?"

"No. He was in an accident. Come on, we are meeting with the Boltens att he hospital. Put on your coat and hurry up." Gabriella ran up the stairs and into her room, grabbing her coat off of the bed, she threw it on over her shoulder and pulled her shoes on, running down the stairs again and out to the door to where her mom was waiting in the car.

* * *

When they arrived at the hospital, they met the Boltens' in the emergency room. They had just gotten there as well. Mr. Bolten walked to the front desk. 

"Does anyone know anything about my son?" The man turned around and looked at him.

"Can I have a name?"

"Troy, Troy Bolten. I got a call saying he was in an accident."

"Troy...Troy...Ah, here we are. Dr. Hemingway will be out to see you soon." They waited nearly ten minutes before the doctor came out. He was covered in blood.

"Mr. and Mrs. Bolten?" They jumped up and walked over, Ms. Montez and Gabriella followed. "Um, I can only talk to family." Mr. Bolten sighed.

"Can they stay?"

"If you give permission." Mr. Bolten nodded. "Your son was involved in a local shooting. He was hit in multiple places. We have stabilized him for now, and sent him up to the O.R."

"Wait, back up. O.R.?" Mr. Bolten asked.

"Yes. He requires surgery to repare the damage from the bullets. Now, we are fairly sure he will make it through, but not fully. He flat-lined twice while we were stabilizing him, we had to re-start his heart. He just went up, and hopefully he will be out in another couple hours. From there on out, it will be touch and go. Would you like to go to the observation room and watch?" Mr. and Mrs Bolten nodded, but Gabriella didn't know what to do. As they were about to go up, Mrs. Bolten stopped and turned back. Walking up to Gabriella, she wrapped her arms around her. Pulling back, she looked into her eyes.

"Would you like to come up?" She looked at Ms. Montez. "You, too. If that is OK?" She turned to the doctor, as if asking for permission.

"They can wait in the O.R. waiting room, but they are not aloud to go into the observation room, only family members are aloud in there, sorry." They all walked up, Mr. and Mrs. Bolten parting from the Montezs'. Gabriella sat down, her head in her hands. What if Troy died? God, she didn't think she could stand that. A loud, steady beeping coming from the room next to her pulled her out of her thoughts. It was coming from Troy's room.

* * *

Weeee! I'm having fun! Do you like it? Do you want to kill me? Yes, you want to kill me. Thank you for all of the reviews! Wahoo! Lotsa reviews! 

Anyway, I would love reviews, lotsa, lotsa reviews! I don't care if you hate it, just tell me your thoughts!

And I am not telling you what happens in the next chapter! Sorry again if not everything that I said would happen did, again, changed at the last moment! Can you tell I am hyper?


	5. Touch And Go

Thank you for all of the reviews and suggesting something should happen to Gabriella. I have taken in your suggestions, and hope this chapter turns out alright. I will also clear a few more things up, like why Troy got shot, by bad. Should have cleared that up in the last chapter.

Well, I am going to stop yapping. Roll the...film?

**P.S. **I do not have a beta, all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Gabriella jumped from her place and ran over to the clear glass window. Placing her hand on it and looking in, she could see the doctors frantically passing numerous tools to each other. Although she couldn't hear a word, she could tell that they were trying to bring him back to life. She waited and watched for what seemed a lifetime, tears slipping unnoticed down her face. Reaching up a hand to clear her vision, she continued to look on. She felt a hand on he shoulder and turned around, it was her mom. Letting go of everything, she collapsed into her mothers arm. Just then the loud, steady beeping stopped. Ms. Montez held her daugther tightly, wishing she didn't have to go through this.  
"Gabbi, come on, lets go sit down." Gabriella just nodded, allowing herself to be led back to the chairs by her mom. Finally trusting herself to speak, she looked up at her mom. 

"Is Troy going to die?" Ms. Montez decided it was best to answer with the truth.

"I don't know. Maybe, and maybe not. We'll just have to wait and see." Gabriella nodded, looking through the window and into the room where Troy's life hung in the balance.

They waited for hours, Troy flat-lining twice more, but just for a few minutes this time. By the time they were moving him out of the operating room, Gabriella was half asleep, leaning up against her mom. Mr. and Mrs. Bolten cam out as well, motioning for Gabriella and her mom to follow them. They got up, walking a little behind so to give the Boltens' some room. When they arrived to where they were going, the doctors place Troy's by many other people that had been recently operated on. Walking over to them, he smiled a small, sad smile.

"Well, the operation went as well as could be expected."

"So, Troy's going to be OK?" Mrs.Bolten asked, leaning heavily on her husband.

"Uhh...Well, it is to early to tell. Granted, the operation went well, but there is bad news. As you know, Troy flat-lined a couple of times during the operation." He waited for the Boltens' to acknowledge this before going on. "The last two were just for a few minutes, so they were nothing to worry about. However, the first one. Troy's brain was deprived of oxygen for almost forty-five minutes." The doctor took a deep breath before telling the parents the news. "He might never wake up. He could be permanently brain damaged." Mrs. Bolten took in a deep breath and started crying again. "The chances are slim that he will ever wake up."

"What odds are we working with here?" Mr. Bolten asked, he looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

"There is a 90 chance that he will never regain conciseness." Gabriella started crying as well. Ms. Montez held her in her arms, knowing she had to be strong for Gabriella, now more than ever. "Sir, we ask everyone this.If Troy does not wake up in a matter of days, and shows no response, would you like us to take him off of the ventilator?"

"What does that mean?" Ms. Bolten asked, looking fearfully up at her husband.

"The ventilator is basically doing all of Troy's breathing for him. Now, in a few days, one of two scenarios will happen. One, Troy will not be able to breathe on his own and he will die peacefully. Two, Troy will be able to breathe on his own, and he will no longer need the ventilator."

"If he can't breathe on his own, will you put it back?" Mr. Bolten asked.

"Only if you want us to." He seemed t think about this for a minute, then looked at the doctor again.

"OK. But I want to be here, and I want it put back in if he can't breathe on his own yet. I still have one question, though."

"I would be happy to help you with anything I can." The doctor replied.

"Why was he shot in the first place?"

"Your son was in an accident involving multiple victims. Your son was just an innocent boy in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am very sorry."

"What happened to the other people?" Ms. Montez asked from her place in the background.

"I am sorry, that is confidential information, however I can tell you that there were three, and not all of them were as lucky as Troy." She nodded, going back to being silent so the Boltens' could talk with the doctor. Gabriella was silently crying in the corner. The three talked for a while longer, then Mrs. Bolten went to sit at Troy's side. Ms. Montez placed a hand on Gabriella's shoulder, motioning for her to move out of the Boltens' hearing range so they could talk.

"Gabbi, we should really get you home. It has been a long day and you need some rest." Gabriella was just about to argue, wanting to stay with Troy. "No buts. Nothing is going to happen in the few hours we will be gone. I will ask Mrs. Bolten to call us if anything does. Your not helping Troy by wearing yourself down." Gabriella sighed in defeat, she knew her mom was right, she needed some rest. She sighed and gave in.

"Fine, you win. But can I come back int he morning?"

"Yes, you may. I will personally bring you myself."

* * *

Gabriella held her breath. Today was the day. If Troy couldn't breathe on his own yet, it was unlikely that he would ever be able to. If he could then it was only a matter of time before he was out of the hospital. He had been moved to the ICU on his second day out of surgery, and seemed to be getting better. But it wouldn't matter if his body was healthy, it was his brain they were worried about. Gabriella tried to tell herself that there was still a chance that he was just fine ,but it wasn't working. She knew that there was only a one in ten chance that he would live. The Boltens were also waiting beside Troy's bed. A doctor in a white coat walked over to them and smiled a little.  
"Hi, I am Dr. Amegio. What we are going to do first is take him off of the ventilator. It should take him about ten seconds. If he does not take a breath on his own after that, we will have to put him back on it quickly. Unless you don't want us to." he looked at them, as if waiting for an answer. Mr. Bolten shook his head. 

"No, I want him on it again if this doesn't work." The doctor nodded and reached out, unhooking the tube that went to Troy's mouth. The tube was still in his mouth, but the machine was no longer working for him. They all stared at the monitor, willing it to tell them Troy was going to be OK. Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...

"How much longer?" Mrs. Bolten asked.

"Just a little," The doctor replied. Four...three...two...one... "It didn't work. I am very sorry." He took the tube and reconnected it to the one that was in Troy's mouth. Mrs. Bolten was crying again, and Mr. Bolten, despite his attempts to be strong for her, was crying with her. Gabriella turned and ran out of the room. Ms. Montez decided to follow her, make sure she didn't do anything drastic. She found her in the women's bathroom in the ICU. Kneeling down beside her, she wrapped her arms around Gabriella.

"Gabbi, sweetie. Are you OK?"

"No, I don't know. I..." her whole body was shaking with sobs as she tried to speak. "I...guess I just made m-myself believe t-that Troy was g-going to be fine."

"Shh...come on, it'll be OK. He isn't gone yet, and Troy is pretty stubborn. Remember the time he cimbed up your balcony just to see you?" Gabriella nodded, smiling sadly. "Come on, lets go back. You need to say good-bye to Troy, we are going to go home. You have been here for over ten hours." Gabriella nodded and allowed her mom to help her up.

* * *

Gabriella sat on her bathroom floor, pressed tightly up against the wall. The razor clutched tightly in her hand. It had been a whole week. Troy hadn't shown any signs of waking up. It was all her fault. If it wasn't for her Troy would be fine. It was her fault that Troy and his dad had started fighting, it was her fault he ran away, and now it was her fault he was dying. She couldn't stand it. The doctors thought that it was unlikely that Troy would ever wake up again, she couldn't live with that, knowing she was the cause of his death. 

Pressing the razor hard to her wrist, she pulled back.

* * *

Ms. Montez quietly made lunch. Gabriella hadn't spoke a word since coming home from the hospital that day. She had a huge pile of homework accumulating in her room, and she was avoiding everyone. God, this was so hard for everyone, especially for the Boltens' and Gabriella. She had never had any real friends, much less anyone she cared for like she cared for Troy. Ms. Montez placed the sandwiches on the table, knowing that Gabriella probably wouldn't come down, and she would have to bring it upstairs. She decided to try anyway. 

"Gabriella! It's time to come down for lunch!" No answer. Not like she had expected one. Waiting a few more minutes, she put a few of the sandwiches on a plate and started walking upstairs. Knocking on the door, she also got no answer.

"Gabbi, come on, open up." Still no answer. Ms. Montez was getting scared. Gabriella had been silent for a week, but she was never this bad. Opening the door, Ms. Montez let herself into the room. On Gabriella's bed side table was the huge stack of homework. After Troy was hurt, Ms. Montez had sent Gabriella back to school, buthad taken her out once she saw how bad her daugther was doing. Thank goodness for spring break. Beside the homework was a picture. It was one of Gabriella and Troy. Gabriella was wearing a light blue, longsleve shirt with a shite shawl over it, and Troy was wearing his normal blue jeans and a black shirt. They were sitting on the lawn in the huge pile of leaves they had raked up. The picture had been taken only a little before Troy had left. Gabriella was nowhere to be seen.

Walking over to the balcony door, she looked out. Nope. Ms. Montez was just about to give up when she heard a small whimper from Gabriella's private bathroom. Walking over, she twisted the doorknob. She yelled, dropping the sandwiches. The plate fell to the floor, shattering all over.

* * *

The ambulance pulled up to the hospital, three other doctors met them at the E.R. entrance. 

"Sixteen-year-old female, attempt suicide..." The voices drowned out as the doctors quickly moved Gabriella into the E.R. Ms. Montez followed as they moved her Gabriella into one of the rooms, doctors accumulated around Gabriella until she couldn't see anymore.

(Quick flash into Gabriella's P.O.V)

She could hear them. No, she hadn't wanted this. She had wanted to go, die. they shouted things above her that she didn't understand, frantically moving around her. Slowly, she allowed the darkness to take over her.

* * *

Weeeell, that's all for now! Please review! Man, I got a ton for my last chapter, hope I get more! 

Yes, you may kill me if you like. Believe me, this will start looking up soon...I think. Anyway, this one turned out OK, at least I think. Now I am going to stop typing because my fingers are frozen solid. Despite the heaters in this house, it is cold!

Review!


	6. The Little Things In Life

Well, since I have the multiple threats of angry mobs coming after me, I am going to update. I have 13 reviews! Yippee! And the reason I leave the chapters where I do is to see what you guys would do. I have fun doing it! It is fun! _**You need to read this, so you don't get confused with what is going to happen in this chapter.**_ I am going to add up all the time since I have started this story. OK, this first started a week after the movie ended, the after party. Since Troy ran away, it has been about five weeks. (And it was only a couple of days between him running away and the beginning of the story, so I do not have to count that.)

I do not know if Gabriella would have to go to the ICU after losing so much blood, but for the sake of the story, I am going to say she does. Well, on with the story! **By The Way: **Gabriella and Troy are still 16, same as in the movie.

**P.S. **I do not have a beta, all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Ms. Montez paced back and forth in the waiting room. It had been almost forty-five minutes, although it seemed like a lifetime, and she still had no word from the doctors. They were still working on Gabriella. She was just about to walk up to the front desk and demand they tell her what was going on with her daugther when a women in a white coat came in. She walked up to Ms. Montez, smiling. Well, it had to be good news.  
"Hello, Ms. Montez, I am Dr. Livingston and I was helping take care of your daugther." 

"How is she?" Ms. Montez stopped pacing and walked over to the doctor.

"Well, she is doing good. Please, take a seat." She motioned for Ms. Montez to sit in one of the empty seats, then took one beside her. "Your daugther is fine. We are going to keep an eye on her for a while, which means that she will have to stay in the hospital. Also, I would like someone to come down and talk to her. Do you have any idea why she did this?"

"Yes. I think she holds herself responsible for her boyfriend. He was in a shooting, and the doctors think he might have permanent brain damage. Gabriella has been going through a lot, but I never thought she would go this far. What took you so long, by the way? You were in there for forty-five minutes." Ms. Montez asked, she was more than a little worried, and was wondering if something more serious had happened.

"Well, the blood loss deprived the fetus of..." She was cut off by Ms. Montez speaking.

"Excuse me? What did you say?"

"Um...that the blood loss deprived the fetus of oxygen for almost thirty minutes. Ms. Montez, did you know Gabriella was pregnant?"

"No! No, I didn't!" Now Ms. Montez was very upset. Gabriella? Pregnant? Why didn't they know? "How far along is she?"

"About six weeks."

"Why didn't we know?" Ms. Montez asked, speaking her mind.

"Well, some people have morning sickness, and that is usually how they find out. Either the morning sickness has not set in yet, or Gabriella is going to pass it altogether." Ms. Montez was silent for a moment, totally surprised by this news. Then something else came to her, how were the Boltens' going to take it? Was the baby Troy's?

"When will Gabriella wake up? Can I take her home when she does?"

"No, we can't risk sending her home inthisstate. And if she does not know she is pregnant, it could drive her deeper into depression, we need her to see a specialist before sending her home. We would also like to keep an eye on the fetus, make sure everything is in working order. She should wake up soon, in a matter of hours." Ms. Montez nodded, she was going to have a very long talk with Gabriella when she got up.

"Do you have any more questions?"

"No, not right now. Can I see Gabriella?" The doctor nodded and walked to the door, opening it and walking out, motioning for Ms. Montez to follow her. She did. They walked for about a minute, passing several sick people. Some of them were young, some older, ranging from all ages. They soon arrived in a small room, much like the one Troy was in when he had broken his leg.

"We will be taking her up to the ICU soon. Don't be scared of the tube in her mouth, we had to intibate her because she was not breathing on her own. She is now, don't worry. We will be taking it out as soon as she wakes up." Ms. Montez nodded, walking over to Gabriella's bedside and taking her hand. She was pale, her hair hanging limply around her face. The doctors had cleaned up all of the blood. Ms. Montez would never forget the picture of Gabriella on her bathroom floor, surrounded by blood. She couldn't believe it. Gabriella, pregnant. She was gonna be a grandma before her daugther even moved out. She smiled a little. Just then two doctors walked in, one placing a hand on her shoulder.

Ma'am, we need to move Gabriella up to the ICU. They will take very good care of here there. We are a little crowded, so she will have to share a room. Will that bother you?" Ms. Montez shook her head. "Good. You can follow us up and stay with her as long as you would like. Normally, we would send her home, but she needs to see someone, as Dr. Livingston has explained to you, and she also needs to see an expert about the baby, to make sure it is OK."

"Thank you." The two doctors placed up the guardrails on Gabriella's bed and started pushing it toward the elevator. Once there, they moved her inside and pressed the button for the ICU floor. Ms. Montez had seen this floor many times when she had been up here with Troy, it was very familiar. One of the two doctors opened a door that had the letters 210 on it, moving the bed inside. As soon as they entered, Ms. Montez gasped. In the bed next to Gabriella was Troy. The doctor noticed.

"Do you want us to pull the curtains?" Ms. Montez shook her head, watching as the doctors hooked Gabriella toa ventilator.

"Does she have to be hooked up to that?"

"No, we will take it out when she wakes up, but it is very uncomfortable to take it out when they are sleeping." Ms. Montez took the seat beside her daugthers bed and held her hand. It was when she heard voice behind her that she turned around. It was the Boltens. They were back to visit Troy. Mrs. Bolten noticed Ms. Montez and walked over.

"Oh, my God. What's wrong?"

"Gabriella...she tried to commit suicide." Mrs. Bolten gasped. Karen (A/N: That is Ms. Montez's first name, made by yours truly, me) decided to tell them about Gabriella's pregnancy when she was awake.

"What? Why?" Mr. Bolten asked, although he had an idea why. God, this was all his fault. If he hadn't been so hard on Troy and Gabriella,none of them would be here. Ms. Montez took a deep breath, trying to contain tears.

"She blames herself." She didn't need to say any more, they understood. Just then, a whimper from Gabriella's bed made her turn back. What? The doctors said it would take her hours to wake up, it hadn't been hours.

"Gabbi? Don't try to talk. I'll go get the doctor. Gabbi nodded, tears in her eyes. Ms. Montez went to the door and called the nearest doctor. He walked in and smiled at Gabriella.

"Hello, Gabriella. Don't be scared. We have the tube in your throat to help you breathe, we can take it out now." He positioned himself at her side, disconnecting the tube and placing his hand on the part that was in her mouth. "OK, I need you to take a deep breath, and blow out really hard when I tell you to, understand?" Gabriella nodded, looking up at her mom. She smiled at her encouragingly.

"One, two, three, blow!" Gabriella blew as hard as she could, feeling the tube slip from her throat. As soon as it was out, she started coughing violently. It subsided quickly as she looked around the room, her eye's landing on Troy. Tears slipping from her eye's, she laid back down on the bed. Not trusting her voice just yet, she looked up at her mom questioningly.

"Gabbi, you are in the ICU, you tried to kill yourself, do you remember?" Gabriella did not respond, just staring up at the ceiling. Ms. Montez continued. "I brought you to the hospital, you needed a huge blood transfusion."

"I want to go home." She said simply. The doctor shook his head, looking at the Boltens.

"Could you step outside for a moment and give us some time with Gabriella?" They nodded and Mr. Bolten lead his wife out of the room, following quietly. The doctor just stood quietly, looking at Ms. Montez. "Would you like a moment with her?" Ms. Montez nodded and he left the room, smiling.

"Gabriella, I need you to be truthful. Have you and Troy ever...done anything?" Gabriella didn't answer, still staring up at the ceiling. "Gabbi, we need to know." She sighed, finally looking at her mother.

"We both had a little too much to drink, mom. I'm sorry." Gabriella was crying again. Ms. Montez wrapped her arms around her daugther as best as she could without ripping out her IV.

"I need you to tell me something else." Ms. Montez took a deep breath, not wanting to bring this up so soon, but she had no choice, they had to have the ultrasound and a meeting with the specialist. "Did you know you were...pregnant?" Gabriella gasped, pulling back.

"What?"

"The doctor said so. You are about six weeks. Your blood loss could have hurt the baby, we need to talk with a specialist."

"M-mom? Are you mad?" Gabriella asked, fearing the worst.

"A little. Gabbi, do you want to have this baby?" Gabriella looked at her mom like she was something that had come from another planet.

"Of course, mom. This is me and Troy's baby your talking about. I could never kill it, or give it up for that matter." Ms. Montez was surprised at how fast her daugther had made up her mind. She must have, no, still did, really love Troy. This was going to change her life forever.

"OK. I will call the doctor-" She was cut off by a very loud beeping coming from the bed beside Gabriella's. Gasping, she ran to the door and yelled, "Doctor! I think something is happening to Troy!" The doctor ran in the room, Mr. and Mrs. Bolten right on his heels. He checked the machines and a few other things. Turning back to the occupants of the room, he smiled.

"What is it?" Mrs. Bolten asked, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"Oh, nothing bad. Quite the opposite, in fact. The machine is beeping to tell us that Troy has taken a breath on his own." Mrs. Boltens tears turned to ones of joy.

"Is he going to wake up?"

"I don't know, but the fact that he is starting to breathe on his own is a very good sign." They all smiled, Gabriella sitting up in her bed and wrapping her arms around her legs. The doctor turned to Gabriellaand Ms. Montez again.

"Gabriella, would you like me to call an O.B.?" He realized a little to late that Mr. and Mrs. Bolten were still in the room. Everyone in the room fell quiet.

* * *

Dun dun dun! the plot thickens! Please, don't kill me! I am not to good with all of the medical stuff, so if something is wrong, forgive me please. **P.S. **An O.B. is a doctor who helps take care of a person during a pregnancy, weither it is prenatal(sp?) care or termination. They are also called when the person goes into labor.

Next chapter: I'm not telling you! Hahaha! Do you want me to end this soon? Or should I go on until the baby is born and what troubles that happen from there on? You decide!


	7. Second Chances

I had a lot of trouble with the medical stuff again. Sorry if some of it is wrong, it is all my mistake, and it is just a story, so what the heck? I have been planing out what is going to happen in my head, and I think I am going to go ahead and write until and a little after the baby is born, skipping time here and there. I had a question from a reviewer, when were Troy and Gabriella drinking? Well, I will answer in this chapter. Sorry if I confused you! By the way, some of the tings in this chapter about Gabriella's past are made up by yours truly. Me!

I need to clear something up again. The HSM movie ended when it was about four weeks into the new year. My story has been going on for six weeks, more in this chapter. So it starts out in mid March, and I will let you add up the rest of the time.

All the reviews made me update faster. OK, need opinions. Do you like Ryan or Troy better? Not in stories or anything, but in the movie. I like Troy! He is awesome!

P.S. I don't have a beta, all mistakes are mine.

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The room was so silent you could hear the clock ticking. Gabriella looked down at the floor and wrapped her arms around hr knees, bringing them to her chest. Mr. and Mrs. Bolten watched her, mouths hanging open. Ms. Montez nodded at the doctor, as it to tell him that would be OK. He nodded back and started walking out of the room, not wanting to get in the middle of any family matters. Mr. Bolten finally seemed to find his voice.  
"Troy's?" Was all he asked. Gabriella nodded slightly, tears trailing down her face. Mr. Bolten dropped into the nearest chair in shock. Ms. Montez placed a comforting hand of Gabriella's back, rubbing small circles.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Bolten, I r-really am." Gabriella chocked out between sobs. She knew this was not going to go well. Mrs. Bolten, if at all possible, seemed more surprised than her husband.

"Are you going to keep it?" Mrs. Bolten asked. Gabriella just nodded again. Mr. Bolten was just about to speak again when a young, blonde nurse walked inside. Clearly confused, she stopped at the door.

"Gabriella Montez?" Gabriella looked up.

"It's me." She said simply. The nurse was surprised, but chose not to say anything as she moved the wheelchair she pushed over to Gabriella's bedside. "Do I have to go in that? Can't I walk?" Ms. Montez smiled, recalling that Troy had said something almost exactly like that to them when he had broken his leg.

"Yes. I am going to bring you up to Dr. Chamberlin. By the way, I am Alice." Gabriella muttered hello as she moved herself into the wheelchair, not meeting the Boltens' eye's. The nurse turned to Ms. Montez. "Are you Karen Montez?"

"Yes, that's me. Can I come up with my daugther?"

"Sure." She smiled, trying to get rid of some of the tension in the room. It wasn't working. So instead, she just started pushing the wheelchair out of the room. Once outside, she breathed a sigh of relief. Pushing Gabriella toward the elevator, she began to wonder why she was so bad with these situations. Pulled from her thoughts by the elevator dinging to tell her it was open, she got inside. Once in the O.B. section (A/N: Do not know what to call it) of the hospital, Alice pushed Gabriella through several halls. Sitting in chairs were mothers of all ages. Some of them were very clearly pregnant, and some of them were not. Little kids ran around the room, their mothers to tired to run after them. Gabriella smiled at one little girl, she looked to be about three and was sitting up against the wall, her thumb in her mouth. She looked as though she was trying to hide from a boy, about her age, but was failing. Jumping up from her spot, she yelled something about 'cooties' and ran off.

At some point, Gabriella did not remember, cooties had become a thing of the past. Well, apparently, or else she wouldn't be here right now. She was going to kill Chad when she got out of here. Three days after the big game, he had thrown a party for all of the winners. That included all of the decathlon winners as well. Halfway through the party, which he had had to force Troy to come to, he had surprised everyone by taking out a bottle of apparently very strong wine. Once nearly everyone was gone, they had ended up playing 'Never have I ever', drinking when they hadn't. After five drinks, you were out. Gabriella and Troy hadn't wanted to play with the wine, but again, Chad persuaded them to. Yea, well, she was going to ring his neck.

Gabriella was pulled from her thoughts when Alice pushed her through a doorway, bumping the wheelchair on the wall as she did it. She muttered 'sorry' and parked the wheelchair beside a small, white bed.

"OK. Please sit up on the bed, Dr. Chamberlin will be with you in a moment."Alice hastily walked out of the room, leaving Ms. Montez and Gabriella all alone. Gabriella moved onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling and wishing she wasn't here right now. If something was wrong with the baby, she would have something else to blame on herself.

"Hello, Gabriella." She jerked her head up to see a tall woman walk into the room. She was wearing colorful scrubs, as all of the doctors in O.B. did. She flipped through a chart, probably Gabriella's, and sat down in the chair besideher bed.

"How old are you?" Dr. Chamberlin asked politely.

"Sixteen," Gabriella said quietly.

"OK." She reached back to where a machine was sitting on a rolling cart and pulled it forward. "I'm guessing this is your first time, so am going to explain everything as I go along. First, this is called an ultrasound. And although I cannot tell much because of your being early in your first trimester, I am going to make sure your baby is healthy." Flipping the machine on, the screen, which looked much like a flat-top computer, flashed blue for am minute before turning black. Reaching and taking the hand-held (A/N: Someone, please tell me what it is called. The little hand held thing they use to move over your stomach to check things.) thing, she showed it to Gabriella. "I am going to use this to look. Now, I am going to put some gel on your stomach, it will be a little cold."

"Ah!" Gabriella said in surprise. She hadn't been kidding, the stuff was ice cold.

"Sorry. Now, here," She started moving it over Gabriella's abdomen, coming upon a small image. "Is your baby." It was tiny, smaller than your fist. Gabriella smiled a little, looking at the baby. She stared at the screen as Dr. Chamberlin checked things out. It was her baby. Although she had had second thoughts while thinking about after she had found out, she now knew she would never do anything to hurt her baby, her and Troy's. After about ten minutes, Dr. Chamberlin put everything up, using a Kleenex to wipe the gel off of Gabriella's stomach.

"I am going to go over all of the risk and the precautions with you in a second, but first, what are you going to do? I know that you are young, and this is going to change your life in a lot of ways. Do you want to have the baby?" Gabriella nodded. "OK. Do you want to keep it. If not, we can find a nice couple that would be willing to adopt. You could get to know them throughout your pregnancy, and make sure you would trust them with your baby."

"No. I want to keep it." Gabriella said, speaking for the first time to Dr. Chamberlin. She was clearly surprised, but kept it to herself. Not too many sixteen-year-olds came in pregnant, and walked out the same way. Most of them that did wanted to give the child up for adoption when it was born.

"OK. Now, lets start. First off," She took a small, white bottle out from one of the drawers and handed it to Gabriella. "These are pre-Natal(sp?) vitamins, you need to take one every day. They will help keep you and your baby healthy.If they make you sick, try taking it before bed. Gabriella, do you, or have you ever smoked, drunk or done drugs?"

"No, well, I drunk once."

"Before or after you got pregnant?" Gabriella wanted to laugh. That was the reason she was pregnant.

"Before."

"Good." She wrote something down on the chart. "While you are pregnant, I highly stress that you do not drink, smoke or use drugs in any way. If you have any problems, such as serious stomach cramps, nausea that lasts more than a week or bad problems keeping the vitamins down, please come back in. None of these problems are serious, But they can develop and we would like to make sure that nothing is wrong.Make sure you are eating enough for the two of you. And you will be more tired than usual, but that is just because of the baby. I am going to give you a booklet that will explain this stuff in more detail. I would like you to read it as well, Ms. Montez, and anyone else that is going to help take care of Gabriella.

"What are the chances of a miscarriage?" Gabriella asked. She knew all about them. When she was seven, her mom had miscarried. She had been so excited, to finally have a sister of brother.

"Small, but that is the reason we are going to keep an eye on you. To make sure both you and your baby are healthy.

"Sure. Thank yo very much, Dr. Chamberlin."

"Please, call me Diane." Ms. Montez helped Gabriella back into the wheelchair and walked over to Diane, holding out her hand. Diane shook it. "And I would like to see you back here in about two months. You can call and make an appointment. Oh, Gabriella, I got you these from the ultrasound." She handed three small pictures to Gabriella, all of them of her baby. She smiled a little, looking at the pictures.

* * *

The days passed quickly for Gabriella. Morning sickness had set in, and she was miserable. It was bad, she was not only sick in the morning, but in the afternoon as well. She had been moved from the ICU and into a normal room. Seeing the phycitrist, Isabelle, twice a day was killer for her. Eventually, when it became apparent that Gabriella didn't want to go anywhere, Isabelle had started coming down to her room. Gabriella hadn't said anything so far that had to do with why she had tried to commit suicide, only answering the questions that had nothing to do with that subject, Troy or her baby, which wasn't really progress, seeing as those were the subjects they wanted her to get comfortable talking about. It was on the third day that they actually made some progress.

"So, Gabriella, when did you meet Troy?" Isabelle was throwing these questions in with normal ones about her friends and everyday life.

"Um...at a ski lodge on New Years Eve." Gabriella said, surprising Isabelle.

"OK. Good, so, how did you meet him?"

"We were both shoved up on the stage to sing at the New Years Eve party. I didn't want to do it at first, and was considering just stepping down."

"What made you change your mind?" Isabelle asked, it seemed that Gabriella was OK with talking about this subject, so she was going to stick with it for a while.

"When I saw that Troy was just as scared as me." Gabriella smiled a little at the memory. She was sitting on her bed, arms wrapped around her knees.

"So, if you were just on vacation, how come you and Troy live close together?"

"My mom's company had her transferred." And that was the last that Isabelle got out of Gabriella that day. She sighed and walked outside where Ms. Montez and Mr. and Mrs. Bolten. They had decided to come and talk to Gabriella that day, but had almost been immediately shoved out by Isabelle.

"Nothing much. She was talking for a while about how her and Troy met, then she stopped talking again." Ms. Montez sighed, looking in through the glass in the door. Gabriella was sitting in the same position, except this time she was staring out of the window again. This continued, Gabriella would talk for a short while each time, but never open up fully. Troy's condition improved a little, he was now breathing on his own, being taken off of the ventilator for a while each day, so he could get used to breathing on his own, but the doctors didn't want to take him off of it fully yet. Early one day in April, Gabriella was sitting beside Troy's bed, talking to him.

"Hey, Troy, it's me again. I know if you could hear me, you would be sick of me talking to you, but I have something to tell you today." She still hadn't told him of the baby, even of he couldn't hear her, she was afraid. "Your going to be a dad. Yup. In about seven months. This scares me to death, Troy. I don't want to do it alone, I want you to wake up and be a part of your kids life." A tear slipped down her cheek. "I really need help. Your parents seemed to accept it, not that they could do anything even if they wanted to. I really don't want to do it alone. I want to raise this baby, I want us too, you have to wake up." She looked down toward the ground, tears not freely slipping down her face. She was about to stand up and go when she felt Troy's hand tighten around hers. She looked up, sure she had immagned it. No, there it was again. Looking into Troy's face, she saw what she had been telling herself not believe would actually happen. Troy's eye's were open.

"Oh, my God! Troy!" Gabriella let go of his hand and ran to the door, opening it and looking out. Mrs. Bolten had given her a minute alone with Troy, but was still waiting outside. "Mrs. Bolten! Troy is waking up!

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Ahhhh! No, don't kill me, I beg of you! Well, there is your chapter. My fingers hurt...

Well, did Troy hear Gabriella's confession? Is he going to be OK? Will he except that he is going to be a father? Would you like more chapters, or just this next one?


	8. Now Or Never Sooner Or Later

Hello! I know I probably have more than one person ready to hurt me for leaving the chapters where I have been. Sorry about that, I will try to end this one on a good note. Try being the operative word.

I have almost hit 100 reviews! Thank you guys for sticking with me and my crazy story for so long, I am happy! Anyway, I now have a beta, thank you so much, Monica, for helping me! You do realize that you get to read the chapter sooner than everyone else, right? Hey, I was watching HSM for like the hundredth time, and I noticed that right before Troy and Gabriella start to sing Breaking Free, when Troy is convincing Gabriella to sing, his shirt is zipped up, but one scene switch later, it is not. That confused me.

P.S. I now have a beta, yay for me!

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Troy's eyes frantically scanned the room. He looked scared. Gabriella and the Boltons were by his side right away, and the doctor joined them quickly. He smiled, clearly happy that Troy was awake.

"Hello, Troy, and welcome back to the land of the living. Do not be afraid of the tube in your mouth, it is helping you breathe. I think that now that you are awake, we can take it out." He positioned himself above Troy, unhooking the tube from the ventilator and taking the tape off. Troy's eyes still roamed the room, nervously looking around. His eyes landed on his dad, and he quickly looked away, settling his vision on his mom and Gabriella. "Troy? I need you to take a deep breath. Then, when I say to, blow out as hard as you can, okay?" troy nodded, drawing in a breath. "One, two, three, blow!" Troy did as he was told, the tube slowly slipping from his mouth. As soon as it was out, he started coughing violently. Since the tube had been so long, he was not used to breathing without it present. After about two minutes, his coughing calmed.

"Troy, do you know where you are?" When Troy shook his head he continued, "You are in the hospital. I am Dr. Livingston. You were involved in a shooting and required surgery. If you notice some immobility, it is because you have been unconscious for a long period of time. Your speech should return soon." He smiled, checking a few things before turning to Mr. and Mrs. Bolton.

"He should be okay. I will give you a few minutes, but then someone needs to come back in and give him a full checkup to make sure all of his brain functions are intact. If he had trouble walking, talking or remembering things after about half an hour, call someone. Although I do not expect him to be walking without help for quite some time, talking shouldn't be a problem, neither should remembering things." He nodded once more at Troy, and walked out of the room. There was silence until Troy's dad spoke up.

"Welcome back, son." Troy turned his head to the side, looking his dad in the eye for the first time since he had woken up. Finally trusting his voice, he asked the question he had been wondering since he had woken up.

"How...l-long?" He managed to get the words out, but had a lot of trouble.

"How long what? Were you out?" Gabriella asked, somehow managing to avoid Troy's eye, he nodded. "Um...a month and a half?" She answered, but it sounded more like a question than an answer. Troy's eyes went wide as he tried to sit up in the bed.

"What?" He managed to get this word out loud and clear.

"Yes, Troy. We thought you weren't going to come back to us." Mrs. Bolton said, gently pushing him back down. She had to squash the desire to pull him into a bone crushing hug for fear that it might hurt him. Troy opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to get the words out. After a few minutes of talking and welcoming Troy back, everyone was shoved to the side so that two doctors could poke and prick Troy with needles in places he didn't even know existed. They took several tests and decided to see how well he could walk. Helping him sit up in bed, Mrs. and Mr. Bolton took him under each arm, trying to get him to stand up. After about ten times of trying and failing, he finally stood to his feet. Gabriella knew she should be happier that Troy had woken up, but it hadn't quite settled in yet, she was still in shock, as were the Boltons. Just as Troy was about to take a step forward, the door slammed open, causing Troy to fall to the ground in surprise.

"Troy!" It was Ms. Montez and Taylor. After shakily making it back to his feet, Troy smiled at them.

"Hello," Was all he could get out before Ms. Montez pulled him into a hug. She hadn't thought it over before, like Mrs. Bolton had, and didn't think that there was any risk of hurting him. After Troy escaped her hug, he was pulled into another one by his mom. A big round of hugs followed.

"Hello, Ms. Montez, Taylor." Troy smiled, happy with himself that he was now forming complete words.

"It's so good to see you awake." Troy nodded, stretching. "It's good to be awake. I feel stiff." Mr. Bolton nodded.

"I think that is bound to happen when you lay on a bed for a month and a half and do nothing else." A sudden thought occurred to Troy.

"Uh, I missed the Musical, didn't I?" His question was directed at Gabriella, because he knew if he asked his dad, Jack Bolton would most likely rejoice.

"We. We missed it." Gabriella replied, looking at the ground, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"Why didn't you perform?" Gabriella just shrugged, still not looking up. What was she supposed to say? Well, the Musical just _happened_ to fall on the day that I decided to commit suicide, and I was in the hospital for a whole week. Oh, and by the way, while I was here, I found out I am having a _baby_! Nope. She was _not_ going to say that. She was still on edge about whether Troy had heard her when she had told him about the baby. Just then Dr. Livingston walked into the room.

"I would like to do some more tests. I am concerned about some things, but don't worry. I am sure none of it is serious. Um, could you please leave us for a bit?" Everyone got up and walked out one by one. Dr. Livingston looked back at Troy, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Troy, I need you to place your hand over your right eye and look straight ahead. I am going to slowly move my finger into your vision range, you tell me when you see it." Troy nodded and focused his attention on the door ahead of him.

"I see it." Troy said. Dr. Livingston sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Your vision is a little out of focus. I am concerned; could we try your left eye now?" Troy nodded and Dr. Livingston finished up with a few more tests. Troy was just glad that none of them involved more shots. After telling Troy to get some rest, he walked out of the room. Mr. and Mrs. Bolton greeted him at the door, identical expressions of worry on their faces.

"Is he okay?" Mr. Bolton asked.

"I am concerned about his vision. It is a little off, more so in the right eye than in the left. This might be temporary, and it might not. We will have to wait and see, and hope it does not get worse."

"What is wrong? Why is it off?"

"I don't know. It could be a number of reasons. I am thinking it is a neurological problem from not using his eyes for such a long period of time. I am hoping it will pass quickly. In the mean time, I have ordered Troy to get some rest. He is sleeping right now, and I would like to see him remain that way for a while. Please do not disturb him." They all nodded the Boltens' walking quietly into the room to see their son, while Ms. Montez and Gabriella waited outside in the chairs. There was an awkward silence between the two. Finally, Ms. Montez spoke up.

"Gabbi, when are you going to tell Troy?"

"I don't know mom. I did tell him, sort of. It was right before he woke up. I don't even know if he heard me. Part of me hopes that he did, so I don't have to tell him again, and part of me hopes he didn't...I don't know why, though. Mom, I am really scared." She looked up at her mom, tears shining in her eyes. After all the crying she had done in the last six weeks, Gabriella was surprised she still had tears to cry. Ms. Montez pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Well, why don't I ask the Boltens' to give you and Troy some time when he wakes up? I am sure they won't mind." Gabriella nodded, pulling back and wrapping her arms around her knees. Just then Taylor arrived back from the Cafe' where she had gone when they were all kicked out of the ICU room. She handed both Ms. Montez and Gabriella a coffee and sat down with her own. Her mom told her it wasn't good for her, but she drank it anyway. Suddenly a wave of nausea swept over Gabriella. She quickly set her drink down and rushed off to the bathroom. Taylor followed her in concern.

When she arrived in the bathroom, Taylor found Gabriella in one of the stalls, leaning over the toilet. In her rush, she had forgotten to lock the door. After she was done, she sat back, leaning up against the wall. Gabriella was shaking, her face pale.

"Gab, you OK?"

"I-I'm fine. Well, I will be anyway," Gabriella replied, not moving from her spot.

"Are you sick or something?"

"Or something."

"Come on, Gabs, please tell me what is wrong." Taylor pleaded, sitting down beside her friend and placing her arm around Gabriella's shoulder loosely. Gabriella decided to come clean. Gosh, it was a lot easier telling her best friend than it was going to be telling Troy. Taylor was going to find out sooner or later.

"I'm pregnant." There, she had said it.

"W-what?" Taylor was shocked. (No duh D)

"Yea, almost two months."

"Have you told Troy? It is Troy's, right?" Gabriella nodded.

"Yeah, and no. I still have yet to tell him. I am afraid of what he will say." Gabriella was saved from explaining herself further when another wave of nausea hit her.

Troy was up again. It was almost dark now, and it seemed like everyone in the entire school had been there to see him. Even Ryan and Sharpay had dropped by. Troy was glad his last visitor had left. Gabriella stuck her head in the door, smiling at Troy. He didn't see her at first, until he turned his head her way.

"Hello, Gabriella. I was wondering when you would come to see me." He smiled and struggled to sit up against the pillows his mom had set up.

"Yeah, well i thought I would let you see your friends first." Gabriella said, sitting on the chair beside Troy. She was here to tell him. Troy noticed something was wrong.

"Gabriella, are you okay?" She nodded a little, looking up at the ceiling and taking a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Troy, I'm pregnant."

* * *

Sooory...I did it again! Well, please review. I hope to have the next one up soon. My fingers hurt from typing so long... 

In the next chapter: How does Troy take the news? Will he be glad? Mad? What happens to Troy and his eyes? (I don't even know that one...yet) ;-)


	9. Everything Is Gonna Be OK PT:1

Hi, again! Sorry for taking so Long with updating! I was watching HSM again with my little brother and his friend today, and the tune from We're All In This Together is stuck in my head! Arg! Well, that was totally random. By the way, sorry for this chapter being so short, I have to go somewhere soon, and I do not have the time to make it too long. I hope you enjoy anyway!

Sorry that I have been spelling Bolton wrong!

* * *

Troy just sat on the bed, staring straight at Gabriella. He was shocked. He knew they shouldn't have drunk at that party, now Gabriella was going to have a baby. His baby. Another thought struck him. What if she was having an abortion? Although he didn't know if he was ready to be a father yet, he surely didn't want his kid killed. Surely Gabriella wouldn't want an abortion? As much as he tried to tell himself otherwise, he knew it was her decision, and he would have to support it if it was what she wanted. He looked to the door and back at her again. She was starting to look nervous. Deciding to ask her instead of wondering forever, he spoke.  
"Wow...are you keeping it?" Gabriella looked up at him from where she was staring intently at the floor.

"Yes. Troy, d-do you want me too?" He answered without even needing to think.

"Yes, I do." She broke out into a huge smile and ran over to him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He returned it, pulling away after a minute. "Do our parents know about this? When did you find out?" He had a million questions buzzing around in his head, but only spoke the ones he wanted to know the most. He knew how far she was. That one was easy.

"My mom found out before I did, and it was kinda a mistake that your parents found out, I would have told them sooner or later...probably later, though." Troy smiled at her. "And I found out..." She counted back the time. "About a week and a half ago."

"Wow..." Troy said again, his smile growing bigger still. Gabriella was happy. Happy that Troy was excepting this so easily, happy that he was awake, and happy that she hadn't actually killed herself...and the baby, that day. She had later found out that if she hadn't been found by her mom when she had, her baby would have been deprived of oxygen for too long, and probably would have had brain damage.

"I know. I can probably get the O.B. to send down the tape from the ultrasound, if you would like to see it. They said that they keep them for about two weeks before recycling them, so they probably still have it. Oh, and Troy, there is a small army growing outside the door, I think I should let them in." He nodded and kissed her on the cheek. Gabriella got up and walked over to the door, sticking her head out. Seconds later, the Boltons', Taylor and Chad all came in. Gabriella took her seat in the corner again, watching as Chad shoved a basketball into Troy's hands. Taylor frowned at her boyfriend and tapped him on the shoulder, dragging him off into a corner to talk to him. About a minute later, he came back to Troy and they continued talking. Ms. Montez walked over to where Gabriella was sitting.

"So, did you tell him?" Gabriella nodded. "I think he took it well, with the way he is practically glowing and all."

"Yup. He took it as good as can be expected. I think he had a few more hundred questions than he asked." Ms. Montez smiled at her daugther.

"I remember when I was pregnant with you, your father wouldn't leave me alone. He was very cautious. But it was good in the end. He suspected trouble, and rushed me into the emergency room. As it turned out, and you have heard this story a hundred times, you had been flipping around and got your cord wrapped around your throat. I think if he hadn't been so cautious, you wouldn't be here today."

"Yea, I think you have told me that story about ten times, maybe more. Mom, what if something happens to my baby?"

"If you are careful, and do everything the doctor says, you should be fine. When the baby starts to kick, you will need to count to make sure it is not slowing down. You kicked a lot, and when you stopped cold turkey, we knew something was wrong. Watch out for the little things, sometimes they can be the biggest."

"Thanks mom. I think with you, Troy and everyone else hanging around my shoulders, this kid should be fine. Mom, what is labor like?"

"Now that's a story for another day." She patted Gabriella's leg and stood up, walking over to the bed where Troy was sitting, propped up against several pillows. He still looked uncomfortable, but was still smiling. Just then Dr. Livingston walked in the door.

"Hello, Troy. Time for your meds. Although you are not on anything for the pain, we are giving you some antibiotics for an infection you developed a few days ago. It is almost cleared up, nothing to worry about." He explained, for Troy knew nothing of the meds he was on.

"OK." He watched as the doctor inserted the medication into his IV tube. The he and Chad continues talking.

"So, I guess Sharpay and Ryan did end up getting the parts in the Musical, right?" Troy asked.

"Yup. They were pretty good. Sharpay made Zeke go, and he wanted us to come along. They didn't sing nearly as well as you and Gabriella, but they managed to pull it off. Well, Ryan slipped once on the floor, but he made it look like it was part of the show." Chad said, smiling at the memory.

"Oh, well. What else has been happening? I mean, I was out for, like, a month and a half. Surely something exciting happened."

"Well..." Chad thought for a moment. "Jason finally asked Kelsi out, Sharpay and Ryan have been considerably nicer to everyone, and we have a game next week. Which your dad has been drilling us like crazy about, seeing as how you are not going to be able to play. However, Ms. Darbus did mention something about the Spring Musical, adutions for it in three weeks."

* * *

Troy limped across the school halls, Gabriella helping him along. He had just gotten out of the hospital two days ago, and had argued with his dad forever to let him come. He wanted to adution for the musical today. So did Gabriella, but she didn't know if she would be able to. In two months, when the Musical was going to take place, she would be almost five months pregnant, and she didn't know if she would be showing too much. At three months, she was barely showing, but if you looked close enough, you could tell. They arrived in the theater right in time.

"Ah, how good of you to join us. Mr. Bolton, how good it is too see you." She smiled. Which was something you barely ever got to see Ms. Darbus do. Gabriella looked over at Troy, somehow knowing everything was going to be OK.

* * *

OK. I am leaving it here, because I have to go now! The next chapter will be tomorrow, and it will be when Gabriella is six months along. I do not want to do too much into her pregnancy, because I am going to show a lot about after. Sorry!

Well, c'ya later! Please review.


	10. Paint War

Why, thank you for reviewing. I had a reviewer ask a question: Is something wrong with the baby from the suicide thing? Well, the answer is no, I mentioned in one of the cnapters, I am not sure which one, the baby is fine. They couldn't see much because of how early Gabriella was in her pregnancy, but what they did see was that the baby was OK.

Thank you for asking. As promised, chapter on demand. D There will be one, maybe two, more chapters after this while Gabriella is still pregnant. Then will be the labor and everything after. I don't know how long this story is going to go on, might be only four or five more chapters, might be twenty. That would be cool! Depends on what you guys want: **Only a few more chapters, or a whole lot more? Either way, I am fine with it. **

Well, I'll shut up now. Oh, and **THNAK YOU** Winter Sapphire, for helping me get this uploaded. (((Hugs)))

* * *

Four months later...

Troy bent his paintbrush back after filling it with paint. Letting go of the edge, the contents of it flew right in Gabriella's direction. She turned and saw it coming just in time, ducking to avoid it. It hit right into the wall behind her. She turned to Troy with a look of pure surprise on her face. He quickly returned to painting the walls, pretending he hadn't done anything. Gabriella dipped her paintbrush in the blue paint and flung it at Troy. This one, however, didn't miss. He screeched loudly and spun around. Gabriella was not trying to hide anything, in fact, she was smiling brightly.

"What did you do that for?" Troy asked, as if he didn't know. Gabriella just smiled and went back to painting the walls. Both of them were covered in blue paint, and Troy had bits of green on him. He was painting the floor and ceiling lining, which was green. Deciding to take her off guard, Troy quickly dipped his paintbrush and held it back, letting go. Gabriella had, once again, seen it coming and ducked, leaving the paint to fly wherever it liked. Which was, unfortunately, right in Ms. Montez's face, who had just walked up the stairs. The room went silent. Gabriella pointed a finger at Troy. He looked betrayed. Suddenly Gabriella started laughing.

"Troy? Your mom is on the phone. I left it in the kitchen to come get you. Will you excuse me? I am going to wipe the paint off of my face. Troy quietly slipped out of the room, blushing. Running down the stairs, he picked up the phone and held it to his ear.

"Hi, mom!"

"Hello, Troy. Are you having fun painting?"

"Yup." Troy said, smiling. He looked up at clock and his mouth dropped open. Surely that hadn't been painting for that long? It had been five hours!

"Well, when are you going to be home? It is two now, and I am guessing you want to finish painting first."

"Yea, well, we should be done soon. Three of the walls are painted, and I am almost done with the lining, so it shouldn't be more than an hour, two at the most."

"OK. Well, I'll see you then. Can I talk to Karen again?" Troy paused.

"She is...busy at the moment."

"Troy..."

"Long story. Bye mom!" Troy said quickly, hanging up the phone so not to get in a very awkward conversation with his mom. Grinning to himself, he ran back upstairs. Gabriella was still painting. He leaned against the wall, watching her. She had painted the lower part, and was now trying to get the higher part. Giving up, she stuck the paintbrush back into the bucket and turned to Troy.

"Will you help me get the higher part? My mom won't let me stand on a chair, and I just can't get it!" She sounded a little frustrated, and Troy had learned not to argue with a pregnant lady. She had actually kicked him out once, and Ms. Montez had to let him back in so he could get his backpack before going home. They had been studying Math, and Troy had not understood what she was trying to tell him. Needless to say, she had gotten upset.

"Sure, here, hand me the paintbrush." They worked in silence for a few minutes.

"What did your mom say?" Gabriella asked.

"She just wants me home by five, at least I think that is when she said."

"OK, I am su-" She stopped talking and grabbed her stomach. Troy was instantly at her side.

"Are you OK? Whats wrong?"

"Nothings wrong." She looked up at him, smiling widely. "The baby kicked." Troy grinned along with her. They had been waiting for this. When Gabriella had went in for a checkup, the doctor told her that the baby should be kicking soon, she was to expect it.The doctor had also reported that their baby was perfectly healthy. Gabriella grabbed his hand and placed it over her stomach. Within a minute, the baby kicked again.

"Wow..." Troy said, this wasn't the first time had had felt a baby kick, but this baby was his. "Wow." Gabriella nodded, not noticing her mom in the doorway. She was smiling.

"Baby kick?" She asked, startling both Troy and Gabriella. Gabriella nodded. "Well, if he is anything like you were, Gabriella, then he is going to be kicking a lot. I just hope his kicking and twisting doesn't get him in trouble." When they had gone to see the doctor, Gabriella had also gotten another ultrasound. It had revealed that the baby was a boy. Troy was ecstatic. "Well, turns out that that paint comes off of skin, thank goodness." Troy looked at the ground, blushing, but still smiling.

"Sorry about that, Ms. Montez."

"It's OK. By the way, are you going to be staying for dinner?"

"Um..no. My mom wants me home by five."

"That's fine. Well, I think you and Gabbi should finish painting, then. We are going shopping tomorrow, and I would like a place to put what we get."

"Yep. We'll be done soon."

* * *

Troy ran up to the door of his house. It was five thirty, he apparently didn't have good timing. He was almost always late. Stopping momentarily to catch his breath, he opened the door.  
"Troy, your late." His mom said from the other room. He dropped his backpack on the floor, walking into the kitchen where his mom, dad and new puppy, Russel, were sitting.

"Sorry. Couldn't find my backpack in the mess in the Montez's living room. They cleaned out the guest room so we could paint it for the baby." He sat down at the table, still trying to catch his breath. He had gotten a ride over to the Montez's house, and ran the whole way back. It was only a mile and a half, but it was enough to make you gasp.

"Did you finish painting?" The truth was, they had barely finished on time, for they had gotten in another paint war. Troy grinned.

"Yup. It's ready...empty, but painted." Mr. Bolton looked over at his son.

"Why are you so happy? When your mom roped me into painting your room when she was pregnant with you, it was hell. First she whined that I was not doing a good enough job, and then she said that I was doing too good, then she yelled and said she would do it herself." Mrs. Bolton smiled, looking at the floor. "I didn't know there was such a thing as too good of a job."

"Well, painting was fun. Besides the part where we got into a paint war, Gabriella got me five times and I didn't get her once, although I did get her mom. I still have paint in my ear." He frowned and stuck a finger in his ear, twisting it around.

"Paint war?" His mom looked at him disapprovingly.

"Uh...yea. I started it." Troy didn't look the least bit ashamed.

"Troy..."

"Sorry, mom. I was bored, Gabriella was driving me up the wall with her complaining about my painting job, so I was forced to resort to drastic measures."

"I wish I had thought of that." Mr. Bolton said. His wife scolded at him.

"She must have eyes in the back of her head, because she had no idea that I was going to flick paint at her. The second time, however, was my fault." He smiled, "I got Ms. Montez right in the face."

"That doesn't explain why your face is about to crack, your smile is so big." Mr. Bolton pushed.

"Oh, the baby kicked." At first, Troy had felt strange talking about the baby, but it had been four months. He and everyone else were starting to get comfortable with the idea. Troy was going to be a dad, the Bolton's and Ms. Montez were going to be grandparents, and Taylor, Chad, Kelsi and everyone else were just happy for them. Shocked at first, but happy nonetheless. Mrs. Bolton's frown turned into a smile.

"Wow. How far is Gabriella?" She asked.

"Six months." Troy felt comfortable talking about the baby with everyone but his parents. It was fine normally, but sometimes he would rather freeze to death than talk about it. The rest of the meal was silent, besides the occasional 'please pass the salt'. After it was finished, Troy walked up to his room, grabbing some things out of his dresser and walking into the bathroom, determined to get the paint out of his ears and hair. After he was out of the shower, he flopped down on his bed. When he had gotten out of the hospital, he had been overwhelmed with everything that was going on. Now, he felt very little of that load had been lifted off of his shoulders. Maybe more had been added. He now had the responsibility of being a dad looming over his head. One day soon. The day after he was realised, Gabriella had told him about the incident that had landed her in the hospital.

Flashback

Gabriella sat on the edge of Troy's bed. He was out of the hospital, though he was still having trouble walking, and was glad to be home. Gabriella was over to visit, and thought it was time she told him about her trying to commit suicide. She took a deep breath before starting.

"Troy, I have something to tell you."

"Yea?" Troy asked, he remembered the last news she had to tell him, and only hoped this wouldn't be exactly the same.

"W-while you were in a coma, I-I blamed myself for your accident, and I was worried sick. The doctor said you probably wouldn't wake up, and would be in a coma for the rest of your life. I didn't think I could do it. It was my fault..." Troy placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, Gabriella. It wasn't your fault. I chose to go. Gabriella, nothing that happened was your fault."

"I understand that now, Troy, but I did blame myself then. I-I t-tried to kill m-myself." She started crying, the tears flowing freely down her face now. Troy sat up and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. Emotion's of all kinds were surging through him. He was mad, confused, sad, and worried. Why would she do that? "I almost killed our baby, Troy, I'm so sorry."

"Shh...It's OK now, Gabriella, it's OK." She continued to cry, and Troy continued to hold her.

End Flashback

He still couldn't believe it. She had tried to kill herself. Sitting up, he took out his Science report from his backpack and picked up a pencil, sighing and starting on the report that was due the very next day.

* * *

Gabriella sighed and looked in the mirror. Troy was shuffling through one of her baby magazines, not really reading anything. He yawned and laid back on the fluffy pink pillow on Gabriella's bed. He was tired. He had been up half the night writing that report, and was still late for class, so Ms. Darbus had given him detention. It was nearly dinnertime, and he was over to help put the carpet down in the nursery.

"I'm fat."

"Yes Gabriella." Troy said without thinking. He wasn't thinking about anything but sleep. Suddenly, he realized what he had said and looked up sharply. Gabriella had turned to him and now had her hands on her hips.

"Well, you weren't supposed to agree with me." Troy's eyes widened.He tried to explain himself, be all that came out were a few squeaks.

"I-bu-uh..." He finally gave up, throwing his head back on the pillow. Gabriella gave him one last glare and turned back to her mirror.

"No, really, I am as fat as a hog, and I am only six months along." Troy groaned and stood up, walking over to Gabriella, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

"Your beautiful." He smiled and kissed her neck. Gabriella giggled and turned around in his arms, so now she was facing him.

"No, I'm fat. Your just saying that."

"Maybe. But you are for a very special reason, and I love you for it." He lowered his face to hers and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. Gabriella sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck. Suddenly, a voice from downstairs brought them back down to earth.

"Dinner!" Troy sighed.

"We will finish this later." He promised before taking her hand and leading her downstairs.

* * *

Well, sorry not to leave you on a cliffe. I wrote this in an hour! Weee! I am proud of me.

I gotta go, see you later, and I hope that this long chapter makes up for the last short one. Sorry 'bout that!


	11. You, Me, and Baby makes Four

Hope you like this. It is something I was working on for a while, and I think you will be surprised. Baby day has come! Well, I am going to be short in my A/N's, so I am done.

**Thank you**, Winter Sapphire, for helping me get this chapter up!

* * *

The next few months were hectic. Troy and Gabriella were preparing for the baby, which was coming any day now. The room had been painted, and the main things put in. There was a crib in the corner closest to the door, unsetup, a changing table right next to the it. Beside that was a blue, plastic dresser. It had three drawres in it, the top one filled with outfits for taking the baby out, the second one with plain things to where inside, and the third with coats, mittens and other little things. Their friends had donated some stuff as well. Kelsi's mom had given Gabriella a mobile that Kelisi had use when she was a baby. It was appropate, seeing as how her mom's untrasound had said that Kelsi was a boy, and she had bought it accordingly. It had little stuffed animals that spun around in circles, and it could be lowered and highered accordingly as the baby got older.

Troy flipped the directions to the crib upside down, trying to make sense of it.

"You know, in every language that I can read on this thing, the directions are different. I think they are just trying to mix us up." He took his icepack off the floor and held it to his head, where the crib had colappsed on him when he had tried to piece the crib together using the directions in Spanish. Gabriella had to help him read it.

"And how many would that be?" Ms. Montez asked, coming into the room and smiling.

"Three. Spanish, French and English. Now, the English directions say to put this little metel piece here." He took a naturally bent piece of metel and showed them where he was supposed to put it. "The Frence say's to put it here, and the Spanish says here." Each place was totally different than the last. Gabriella sighed and stuck her head inbetween her legs, which were drawn up to her chest and Ms. Montez laughed.

"Wow. Well, I'm confident that you'll get it." She patted Troy on the head and walked out of the room. Groaning, he resumed trying to make heads or tails of the directions. After ten minutes of looking at it every which way, Troy dropped them onto the ground and started piecing the crib together without them. Gabriella looked up, curious.

"Finally made it work?"

"No." He replied shortly, dropping onto his back and getting his head under the crib, taking themetel support bar and holding it up with one hand and grabbing the screw that would hold it in place with the other. The bar was slightly slippery, causing it to fall out of Troy's grasp and right onto his head.

"Ouch."

* * *

"Ouch" Troy said again as Ms. Montez probed at his head. Troy was beginning to think that that crib was cursed. That was the second time that ithad dropped on him.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt so much if you stayed still and let me look at it." She said, parting Troy's longish hair and touching the spot that the bar had hit him on. Troy closed his eye's, hissing in pain. "Well, it looks OK, but I want you to keep the icepack on it for a while." Troy nodded and grabbed the half-melted icepack he had used before and stuck it back on his head.

"On the bright side, I found a way to fix the crib." He smiled brightly and walked out of the kitchen, back up the stairs and into the nursery. Ms. Montez turned to her daughter.

"Well, he's going to make one heck of a father." Gabriella smiled at her mom and followed Troy upstairs. Ms. Montez smiled and watched her daughter. Walking over to the fridge, she took some stuff out to make dinner. After about twenty minutes, there was a yell of triumph from upstairs. Making sure that dinner wasn't going to burn, she started upstairs to see if the crib had finally been assembled. When she got in the nursery, Troy was smiling lopsidedly and Gabriella was looking over the crib. Ms. Montez stood by the door, wanting to hear what was going on.

"Troy, are you sure it is done right? I mean, is it going to fall out while the baby is sleeping?"

"No, Gabriella, it's fine. See," He pushed down on the bottom as hard as he could. Nothing happened. "It's sturdy." Gabriella still looked doubtful.

"But what if-"

"Well, if you still doubt it..." Troy reached over and proceded to pick Gabriella up. Ms. Montez had to hpld back laugther as Troy set Gabriella inside the crib. She was fighting against him, but him being the athelte he was, and Gabriella being pregnant, it didn't work. She finally settled for crossing her arms over her chest and just sitting in the crib, crosslegged. "It has metel bars underneeth, holding the bottom of the crib in. It's not going to fall." Finally not being to hold it back any longer, Ms. Montez started laughing and wandered into the room.

"See? It's up!" Troy smiled proudly, Gabriella still sitting in the crib.

"Great. Can I come out now?I think you proved your point." Troy nodded and helped Gabriella out of the crib, still smiling.

* * *

It was a Saturday morning, and Gabriella was shopping for some last minute things with Taylor. Chad and Troy had to go to Basketball practice, leaving them to do whatever they wanted for the day.

"So, how long till the little one is born?" Taylor asked as they looked through racks of baby boy clothes.

"Well, he was due yesterday. Troy and my mom are both getting a little anxious. I had to force him to go to Basketball practice today. He didn't want to leave." She now wandered over to te racks of pajamas. Picking through them, she came upon one that was a one-piece with booties and little mitten things attached. It was covered in basketballs, all different colors. Gabriella grinned and took it off of the rack, holding it up.

"That is very cute. Troy would love it" Taylor said, smiling at the tiny outfit. Gabriella suddenly dropped, hunching over and grabbing her stomach. Taylor was instantly beside her.

"Gabriella, what's wrong?" Gabriella looked up at her, smiling through her pain.

"The baby's coming."

* * *

Troy caught the basketball in mid-air. Running around several of his teammates, he threw the basketball to Chad, who, once Troy was out of the danger zone, threw it back. Jumping up in the air, Troy threw the ball, it swiched through the hoop without a problem. Chad ran over and high-fived him. Just then Mr. Bolten ran into the room.

"Troy, Taylor called. Gabriella went into labor!" He looked out of breath, like he had just ranfor a while.

"What?" Troy went pale, he knew this day was coming, but he also knew it was going to be hard. More so for Gabriella than him.

"Yea, come on, we gotta go. I think Taylor said that Gabriella threatened to hurt you if you wern't there." Thatw as all Troy needed, he ran into the locker room and quickly threw his sweaty gym shirt off, putting his light blue one back on. Shoes half tied, he hoppod out and ran to his dad's car, jumping in. It was a very quiet ride to the hospital. Troy was tapping his fingers on the back seat, and Mr. Bolten was trying his best not to tell him to stop. He knew how Troy felt. As he had felt the same way when Troy was born...except he had actually missed the birth. He hoped Troy made it on time, if not, he was never going to hear the end of it from Gabriella. When they arrived, Troy amotically went up to the front desk of the O.B. ward, asking for Gabriella.

"I'm sorry, I'll need a last name."

"Montez, Gabriella Montez." He was out of breath, for he had not thought of taking the elevator, and had ended up taking the stairs, giving Mr. Bolten a run for his money.

"She is in delivery room 3. What relation do you have with her? Only family is allowed in the room during delivery." The desk clerk was somewhat annoying.

"I'm the father." She popped the gum she had in her mouth and motioned for Troy to go back. He ran, coming to a screeching halt outside of delivery room 3, where Taylor was standing. Ms. Montez, who had also been called, but had beaten Troy there because she was closer, was inside with Gabriella. He took a deep breath and walked inside.

"Troy!" Gabriella called.

"I'm sorry. Took a while to get the stupid desk clerk to let me back here." He smiled at her, although he could see that she was in pain. He looked up at the doctor. She smiled at him. "Um...where's Dr. Chamberlin? Our O.B.?"

"I'm sorry, she was called into an emergency c-section, we can't call her out. I'm Dr. Lockhart, I'll be your nurse." Troy nodded and took Gabriella's hand in his own. He looked out the window, where his dad was now standing with Taylor. His attention was back on Gabriella when she let out a yell of pain.

"It's OK, Gabriella, breathe through the pain. It won't be much longer now." Dr. Lockhart said. It was twenty nerve wracking minutes before the doctor said it was time. "OK, Gabriella, I need you to push when I tell you to, alright?" Gabriella nodded, looking up at te ceiling, wishing it would all be over already.

"Gabriella, push, now." Gabriella did. Troy felt like his hand was broken in more than a few places from where Gabriella was squeasing it so hard. But he knew she was going through a lot more than him, and he probably shouldn't complain. Gabriella screamed loudly.

"It hurts..."

"I know, but your almost there. Just one more push. It looks like this little guy is gonna be nice and come out quick." Dr. Lockhart said, smiling at Gabriella from her position at the foot of the bed. "Ok, one last push."

"I can't...do it.." Gabriella said, shaking her head.

"Come on, Gabriella, your almost there. You need to push now. Your baby is half out. If you don't push, it could hurt him." This seemed to give Gabriella the will power she needed, and she pushed. Troy felt tears springing to his eyes. God, Gabriella had a strong grip. Suddenly, there was a loud, shrill cry in the room. Troy smiled, forgetting all about his hand. He looked down at Gabriella, who was also smiling, tears in her eyes.

"You did it." Troy said, kissing Gabriella on the head.

"See how he is, will you?" Gabriella asked Troy. Dr. Lockhart had handed the baby to another doctor in the room, and was now cleaning Gabriella up. Troy nodded and let go of Gabriella's hand, holding it with his other and walking over to the young man. He was cleaning the little baby up. He smiled when he saw Troy.

"Cute kid you have here." Troy smiled at the baby. He had a small amount of brownish-blond hair on his head, and his eyes were a light blue, like Troy's. (I am pretending that is the color of Troy's eyes. I don't really know...) The young doctor finished cleaning him and carefully dressed him in a light blue sleeper, wrapping him in a blanket and offering him to Troy. The baby was still screaming.

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't really held a baby bef-" He was cut off as the man showed him how to hold the baby and placed the tiny kid in Troy's arms. He immedatly stopped crying, looking up into Troy's face. Troy smiled at him. "Hey, little guy. I'm your daddy." the baby rubbed his hands over his face, yawning. It was the cutest thing Troy had ever seen. He was still grinning as he walked over to Gabriella and Ms. Montez.

"Can I hold him?" Troy nodded and was about to hand the baby over when Dr. Lockhart spoke.

"Jason, I need another bassenett."

"Sure, I'll get one soon. But what's wrong with ths one?"

"No, you don't understand, she's having contractions again!"

"What? Oh, no, no, no, I'm done." Gabriella said. Troy would have laughed if it were not for the current situation.

"Well, to bad, your having another baby." Ms. Montez gasped and Troy just stared at her.

"Dr. Chamberlin said it was just a boy, not two kids!" Troy shouted. Mr. Bolten, which had been joined by Mrs. Bolten, and Taylor were looking in, wondering what was going on.

"Well, the untrasound can be wrong, and Gabriella, this one is also coming quick. Almost time to push!" Gabriella was still shocked. Soon, Dr. Lockhart was ordering Gabriella to puch again. She was loud about it, but pushed nonetheless. Soon, another shrill yell filled the room.

"It's a girl! Troy, would you like to cut the cord?" Troy nodded numbly, walking over and taking the sizzors with his free hand. Soon, the baby was taken by Jason, the young man. Troy walked back over to Gabriella and handed her the baby, telling her that he was going to go tell everyone what was going on. Before he walked out, he stopped by Dr. Lockhart.

"Can my parents come in?"

"Yes, now that labor is over, sure." Troy thanked her and walked to the door, sticking his head out. There was a loud shriek from Taylor as she pressed her face to the glass, trying to see past everyone and to the second baby. Troy stepped aside to let his parents in. They walked over to the bed where Gabriella was holding her baby boy. Jason handed the little girl to Troy. She was a lot smaller than her brother, but had the same eyes and hair. Mrs. Bolton grinned from ear to ear. Dr. Lockhart stood.

"Well, we will be moving Gabriella to a private room soon, and we will need to watch her and the babys for a few days, make sure everything is OK. Oh, and they need names." Troy and Gabriella had already decided on a name for the boy, but hadn't even tought of a girl as well. She and Jason walked out, leaving everyone to talk.

"Wow." Is all that Mr. Bolton said. Troy smiled.

"So, did we agree on the name?" Gabriella nodded, still looking at her son. "Then he will be Rocket Skyler-" Gabriella cut him off.

"Bolton."

* * *

Well, there you are! Have fun, and I will hopefully be updateing soon. Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW!


	12. Em Yrram Uoy Lliw

BTW: The baby's middle name is pronounced Loreen, I just like the spelling I gave it. The baby's were born on 9/14/06. I typed this up two weeks ago! Man, there are a lot of fics here on like this one. Oh, well. At least I can say I didn't copy. I have had this chapter, and three more, ready for weeks. Sorry, hope you enjoy! I had someone suggest different names, and I am sorry if you don't like the ones I gave them, but I am sticking with 'em. I like them. Anyway, ENJOY! And review, don't forget to review.

* * *

Troy looked at Gabriella, wondering if he had heard right. She just smiled up at him. 

"Are you sure?" He asked. She nodded and Troy broke out into a huge grin. She was giving their baby his name. Troy fingered something in his pocket, feeling that this was the perfect time he had been waiting for for the last two weeks. It was now or never. Handing his little girl to his mom, he moved over to where Gabriella was laying on the bed, holding Rocket. Taking a deep breath, he lowered himself down on one knee, taking the small velvet box out of his pocket and opening it to reveal a small, but beautiful diamond ring. Gabriella gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. Ms. Montez, the Bolton's' and Taylor stood back, wanting to give them room.

"Gabriella Montez, since the first time I met you, I knew I loved you. Everyday, I thank that man who shoved us up there on that stage, because if it weren't for him, neither of us would be here right now. After everything we have been through, the good and the bad, you have always been with me. I love you with all my heart, Gabriella. Will you marry me?" She was speechless for a moment, then her shocked face broke out into a beautiful smiled.

"Yes!" Troy stood up, looking like the happiest man in the world as placed the ring on Gabriella's finger. There were tears in both of their eyes. He hugged her as best as he could with their baby still in her arms. When they turned to their parents, they were all smiling. Taylor shouted 'yes' and ran over, hugging first Gabriella and then Troy.

"Well, this little one still needs a name." Mrs. Bolton spoke up, motioning to the baby in her arms.

"Raine." Gabriella said automatically. "Raine Laureen Bolton."

"I like it." Troy said just as Rocket began to scream. He was loud.

* * *

"How can something so small scream so loud!" Troy groaned in frustration as he stood from his place at the end of his bed in the guest room and walked into the nursery. It was 3:00am. Picking up Rocket, he reached into Raine's crib, one he had assembled with instructions, to see if she was OK. She was looking up at the ceiling, and turned to Troy as he ran his thumb over her cheek. Troy grinned, despite the loud shrieking in his ear from Rocket. Just then he heard someone at the door. It was Ms. Montez.

"Need help?"

"Uh, Raine is being good, but I can't seem to find what is wrong with Rocket. Is there anything wrong, or does he just like giving me headaches?" Ms. Montez laughed, walking over and brushing Rockets little bit of hair back.

"Probably a little of both. Did you check his diaper, see if he is hungry?" Troy nodded, moving Rocket to a position where he could better support his head.

"Yup. He has been really loud for the past few days. I don't know why. I read that new baby's don't sleep through the night when they first come home, but this is ridiculous."

"He takes after Gabriella. She wouldn't stop crying for weeks after she came home. And I mean non-stop. I got so worried about her that I took her to the hospital a few times. It turned out she had colic. If Rocket has it, fear fer your ear drums." Troy laughed as he gently rocked Rocket back and forth. "And I didn't have someone to help me. Her father left before she was born. Gabriella is very lucky to have you. You have been a huge help, and she appreciates it."

"Yea, well, I'm not the one that just had twins. I think I should let her have some time alone. And I really don't mind taking care of Rocket...when he is quiet, that is. Raine is a perfect little baby. She only cries when she is dirty or wants fed. Which is a big help. Because I know when something is wrong. Rocket, on the other hand, is not like that. When he cries, I have no idea whether something is wrong or not." Troy gave up rocking him back and forth and started rubbing circles on his back. Rocket calmed down a bit, and uncurled his fist, letting his tiny fingers spread out on Troy's shoulder.

"Well, I think you just found how to get him to calm down." Troy smiled and continued to rub Rocket. Ms. Montez ruffled Troy's hair before walking out of the room. Walking around in circles, Troy smiled at Rocket. He was a really cute kid once he stopped crying long enough for someone to see his face. Soon, Rocket let out a small yawn, before falling asleep on Troy's shoulder. Supporting his head, Troy gently lowered him back in his crib. Looking at Raine's crib, Troy noticed she was still awake. Picking her up, he held her in the crook of his arm as he walked over to the rocker and sat down, slowly rocking back and forth. She was beautiful. She looked almost exactly like Gabriella, except her eyes and her was lighter than Gabriella's, but darker than Troy's.

Troy didn't notice Gabriella standing at the door as he began to speak totheir daughter.

"You are just as beautiful as your mommy. You look almost exactly like her." Raine just gurgled in response, reaching up to touch Troy's nose. Gabriella smiled. She knew she had wanted this, the baby's and all, but she didn't realize until now how much she would love it. She loved them both to death, and she hadn't even known about Raine until she was in delivery. But she wouldn't have it any other way. She wouldn't give up her little girl for anything. Or her little boy.

"You are going to be smart like your mother, you and your brother. I wonder if it is bad luck to have twins, I mean, look how Sharpay and Ryan turned out." Gabriella stopped listening as she watched. He was so gentle, it was like he had been taking care of children his whole life. Careful to support her head, he treated Raine like a piece of glass ready to break. He was a great father. Deciding to make her presence known, Gabriella walked into the room, Troy looked up and smiled.

"And you have been standing there how long?"

"Long enough." Troy nodded, standing up and carefully setting Raine in her crib, for she had fallen asleep. "You really think she looks like me?"

"Yes, she looks exactly like you." He smiled and placed a hand on Gabriella's cheek, running his thumb up and down it. Gabriella looked at the floor, nervously twisting the ring on her finger around in circles. Troy lowered his face to hers, gently taking her lips with his own. Gabriella sighed happily and wrapped her arms around his back, leaning into him. There wasn't anywhere else she would rather be than here, in the arms of the one she loved more than anyone else.

* * *

Gabriella yawned as she walked to the nursery. It was now seven, and altogether, she had gotten about six hours of sleep. When she entered, Troy was already there, holding Rocket and trying to calm him down. As soon as he saw her, the little baby reached out, wanting to go to his mother. Gabriella smiled and took him in her arms. 

"Good-Morning, sleepy." Gabriella yawned again.

"How long have you been up?" She asked, walking over to the rocking chair and pinking up a blanket. Spreading it across her shoulders, she proceeded to feed Rocket. Troy, who was still a little self-conscious about seeing Gabriella do this, looked away.

"About two hours. I couldn't sleep. I ended up making breakfast, pancakes. Your mom is waiting downstairs for us. I was gonna come get you when I had Rocket calmed down." He was still avoiding looking at Gabriella, although the blanket was covering most of the exposed part.

"Oh. Troy, come on, you don't have to be embarrassed. I mean, we have baby's for gosh sakes. And I am covered up." She was stopped from going any further by the doorbell ringing. It woke Raine. She started crying, she wanted to be picked up. Troy walked over to the crib, picking the tiny baby out of it and holding her against his shoulder. She was a little small, but for a twin, she was fine. 5 pounds 9 ounces. Her brother was 6 pounds 8 ounces, so they were both small. Walking down the stairs, Troy opened the door with his free hand. On the other side was Chad and Taylor. Taylor squeaked when she saw Raine.

"Oh, she is so cute! Can I hold her?" Troy nodded, carefully taking Raine from his shoulder and passing her to Taylor. "Careful to support her head." He said, worried. Taylor smiled knowingly.

"I know, come on, do you think I am an idiot?" Chad coughed, it sounding suspically like 'yes you are'. Troy almost laughed.

"Well, come on in."

"Are you like, living here now?" Chad asked.

"Ah...no. I am just here for a few weeks to help Gabriella. Rocket is a handful. Speaking of which..." Gabriella walked down the stairs with a crying Rocket.

"Why won't he be quiet?" She sighed, yawning again as she approached Troy. "Hey Taylor...careful, Chad. My mom is leaving soon, and we were about to eat breakfast, would you like to join us?" They nodded and walked inside, Troy taking Raine back from Taylor. The gang walked into the kitchen where Ms. Montez was standing over the stove, finishing the pancakes.

"Why, hello, guys! We didn't realize you were coming over."

"We wanted to see Rocket and Raine. Besides, there isn't much to do on Saturday." Troy snorted, he had plenty to do.

* * *

Well, so sorry for the short chapter. I am going to my grandparents tommorow. This and the next chapter were supposed to be one, but I thought I would like to have something to update while I am gone. I will have some time to get on while I am there, but my little brothers will take most if the time. So I will eb able to add chaptes, but not write them. And my cousin, Rocket, (Yes, that is where I got the name) Is gonne be there too. He is three years old, and couldn't be any cuter. D Besides, I will be really busy. My friend lives close to my grandmas, and I will get to see him again! Yay! 


	13. Problems Arise

Well, here is the second chapter of the 12th one. And I am having fun here at my grandmas. I went over to Reese's, that is my friend, and we had a ton of fun. Who knew you could have so mucg fun with chickens? First, all of his family's chickens got loose, and we had to chase them down. It was great. Then we had lunch and watched HSM. He had never seen it, so I forced him to watch it. And no, I didn't have it in my purse on purpose. (Innocent look on face).

**P.S.** The name of the last chapter was 'Will You Marry Me' backwads. Incase you didn't catch that...

Well, here you are!

* * *

It was mid afternoon by the time one of them came up with something to do.

"Want to watch a movie?" Chad asked, he was laying on the living room floor, flicking a plastic spider up in the air, then catching it again. Troy and Gabriella had finally gotten the twins to take a nap, and were sitting on the love seat. Taylor was sitting on the couch, watching Chad flick the spider up, scrunching her face up every time it came near her.

"Sure, as long as it will make you put that thing away." Taylor said, standing and walking over to the movie rack. Looking though it, she dropped back on the ground. "Gabriella, you have nothing to watch."

"Yes I do! Gabriella protested. "What kind of movie do you want to watch?"

"Something full of romance."

"Those movies are so full of crap. Nothing ever turns out the way they make it. I mean, come on! In one movie I watched, the girl ran off with the bad guy! The in another, it was just too easy the whole way through. And take 'Grease' for example. I think it was way too easy. The girl wanted to go back to the boy, so there was nothing wrong, once they got their heads on straight. All in all, I think it sucked." Troy said, knowing what was coming.

"What! That was a classic!" Chad turned to Troy, shouting loudly.

"Shh! The baby's are asleep!" Troy and Gabriella hissed quietly at the same time. Just as they said it, there was a loud, shrill, yell from upstairs.

"Chad..."Troy whined, getting up from his spot on the couch and walking up the stairs. When he arrived in the nursery, Rocket was crying, running his hands over his face and kicking his legs up in the air. "Hey, little guy." He picked Rocket up, holding him against his shoulder and rubbing his back. Rocket continued to cry loudly. "Come on...your gonna wake your sister...please..." It wasn't working. Troy was going to kill Chad. There was nothing worse than a cranky Rocket. Although he was only a week old, he was very loud. Deciding to take Rocket from where he would wake his sister, Troy walked down the stairs. Gabriella smiled sympathetically when she saw Troy.

"Here, let me take him for you. He likes me better." Gabriella grinned and took the loud baby from Troy, who dropped down on the couch, tired.

"Sorry, man. I didn't realize he was so loud," Chad said, looking at Rocket. "He must get that from you." Troy picked up the pillow from the couch he was sitting on and threw it at him. It hit Chad square in the face.

"OK, that's enough, kids," Gabriella said, smiling. She then turned to Taylor. "Hey, would you stay down here and make sure that they don't get into to much trouble? I have to go feed Rocket." Taylor nodded and Gabriella walked upstairs. She heard small, whimpering sounds coming from the nursery. Walking in, she went over to Raine's crib. She was awake, tears in her eyes. Gabriella was immediately worried. She could usually hear Raine when something was wrong. Placing Rocket in his crib, she went over and picked up Raine. She was wheezing now, the tears coming faster. Gabriella knew what it was.

"TROY!" He was up the stairs and in the nursery in record time. So was Chad and Taylor. By now Gabriella was crying herself. She ran to the door to meet them, already on her way downstairs to the car. "It's Raine! She is having trouble breathing!" Troy ran to get Rocket before running down the stairs himself. He bolted out of the door and ran to his car, which was parked in the driveway. Throwing open the door, he quickly, but gently, placed Rocket in his car seat. He then jumped into the driver seat. Gabriella was already in the car, holding Raine. She was now gasping, not able to make a sound.

Troy paced the waiting room of the ER. He and Gabriella had been there for nearly ten minutes, and the doctors still hadn't told them anything. Gabriella was sitting on one of the chairs, Rocket gripped tightly in her grasp. She was still crying. Troy walked over to her and sat down beside her. Chad and Taylor had followed in Chad's car, and were also waiting in chairs. Suddenly Troy's phone rang.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hello? Troy? Where are you? I have been trying to call the house phone forever! And Gabriella isn't picking up her phone either." It was a frantic Ms. Montez.

"We're at the hospital."

"What! Are you OK? Is it Gabriella?"

"No, it's Raine." Troy said, trying to fight back tears. He wouldn't be able to bear it if his little girl died.

"Oh, my God. Is she OK?"

"She was having t-trouble breathing. We don't know anything yet."

"I'm sorry. Can I talk to Gabriella?" Troy nodded, and then realizing she couldn't see him, muttered 'yes' and handed the phone to Gabriella.

"Mom?"

"It's me, sweetie. How are you? Would you like me to come over? Well, I'm coming anyway."

"Please. M-mom, please hurry."

"OK. I am on my way now. You hold in there, honey. She'll be fine." Gabriella said good-bye and hung up the phone, handing it back to Troy with her free hand. Just then a young doctor walked into the room.

"Mr. Bolton? Ms. Montez?" They stood, walking up to him. He seemed surprised that they were so young, but decided not to say anything. "I'm Dr. Carter. Your daughter is stable for now. Will you follow me?" They did. He led them into a small, white room. Raine was laying on a bed in the middle of the room, surrounded by machines. Gabriella started crying again. Raine looked so small, weak even, in the midst of everything.

"What happened?" Troy asked.

"Well, we're not sure. We have her hooked up to machines that are helping her breathe, and we are confident that she will be fine. But we don't know what caused her to stop breathing. Were there any small objects she could have swallowed? Medicines? We took an X-ray, and nothing showed up in her stomach, but if it was something that could have melted, or a pill of some sort, it wouldn't have." Gabriella thought for a minute, then shook her head.

"No, everything in her crib is too large to be swallowed. And we have no medications that aren't locked up. There was nothing she could have chocked on."

"Was there anything to indicate she was not well this morning or last night?" Again, they shook their heads. "Was she premature? She is small, and I have not had the time to dig up a chart on her yet."

"No, her and her brother were right on time." Troy said, placing his arm around Gabriella's shoulder.

"Did you smoke, do drugs or drink strong alcohol during your pregnancy?" He turned to Gabriella, who, once again, shook her head. "Well, then I was thinking that it is something passed on genetically. Is there any family history of something like this in either of your families?"

"No," Gabriella said, but Troy cut in.

"Does Asthma count?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, my family has a history of asthma. I have it myself."

"Asthma usually doesn't show up in children this young. It usually takes up to three years to show." He looked confused. "Medically, this is impossible. What do you think could have caused it?"

"Well, there was no smoke or dust, there was, however, a lot of pollen around. Um, some flowers our friends brought," Troy answered; Gabriella was holding Raine's hand, and not paying much attention to the doctor.

"That could be it, but we will need to run further tests to see if it is asthma. You can stay as long as you like. We will be moving her soon, so she can be alone in a room, not in the ER."

"Um, our parents are coming soon. Will you tell them where we are at?" Dr. Carter nodded, walking out. He knew that any grandparents would ask for them, so he didn't need to worry about knowing what they looked like. Troy turned to Gabriella.

"I'm scared, Troy."

'Why? The doctor told us she was doing fine." Rocket was whimpering quietly, but had the grace to keep quiet and let his mommy and daddy worry about his sister.

"What if something is wrong? What if she does have asthma?"

"If she does, it will be fine. I have it, and you didn't even know. Guess I should have told you, huh?" Gabriella nodded and continued to hold Raine's small, pale hand. She was dressed in nothing but a diaper. Troy kissed Gabriella on the forehead and wrapped his arms around her waist. Whatever it was, they would go through it together.

* * *

Believe it or not, the 'asthma' thing is going to play a huge part in the upcoming capters. No, I am not going to kill her...maybe? Well, I am going to go now. I hope you like this, and please review. My brother wants on, and I have to go help my grandma cook dinner.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	14. Sean Whitman

Sorry for not updating as soon as I said I would. I was out with Jessie last night. We went and saw Final Destination 3. I now know that the rumor about girls clinging onto boys in scary movies is true...and he knew that as well, I think.

Oh, well. Who cares? At least my grandma told my brothers to leave us alone, and let us go without them. After all, that was the last night I was going to be able to see him. We are home now, and I have computer time! Weha! I had fun at my grandmas, but I missed this place. Oh, and I went to my Yahoo! account, and I had 169 e-mails--only five reviews. Man, have you guys been going nuts in those forums. D BTW: The twins are four months old in this.

**P.S.** Thanks to WinterSapphire for helping me get this chapter up.

* * *

It had been two months since Raine's attack...of whatever it had been. It had happened once more, but the doctors couldn't find what was wrong again. They were stumped. Gabriella and Troy were taking extreme care with their daughter now. They wouldn't even take her out in public without one of then constantly by her side to guard her from smoke, dust or anything else that could be causing it. Besides that, the twins were doing fine. And Troy and Gabriella were starting to discuss when they were going to get married. They didn't get too far on that one.

Gabriella sighed happily as she sat on the bench in the park. It was a beautiful (For January) day, and she had bundled the twins up and brought them to the park while Troy was practicing Basketball. His dad was being much better about it, and let him keep his cell phone with him in case something happened to Raine again. Troy was being very protective of his baby's, and wasn't even letting his dad get to him. Gabriella's smile didn't waver as Raine started crying. Although she had been a very quite baby when she was first home, and Rocket the loud one, they seemed to have changed positions. Now, Rocket was the quiet one, and Raine liked to give Troy headaches.

"Shh...it's OK, Raine." She reached into the two-seat stroller and brushed Raine's hair back. Reaching into her purse, Gabriella rummaged around for Raine's pacifier. Her bag tipped slightly and fell off of the bench. Groaning, Gabriella got down on the ground and started picking up the contents of her purse, keeping an eye on the twins at all times. She had just about everything stuffed in when suddenly the wind picked up and a piece of paper flew across the ground. Picking Rocket up, for her was trying to climb out of the stroller, and Gabriella was afraid he actually might fall out, she ran after the paper. It kept right out of her grasp, flying a little further each time she grabbed at it. She looked back at the stroller, making sure Raine was OK, then followed it. She would normally forget it, but it was a special poem Troy had written for her, and she didn't want to lose it. What she didn't notice, however, was the strange man hovering around Raine...

**_Sean Whitman (The Man Gabriella Saw) P.O.V /Four months ago  
_  
**_Sean walked into his house, smiling from ear to ear. He had bought another item for the baby he knew was coming. His wife, Maddie, was pregnant, and he was going to finally be a dad. He had been waiting for this for all of the years he had been married, ten to be exact. He just couldn't believe it. He knew it was going to be a girl; that was what he had always wanted. A baby girl. He opened the door and walked inside. Maddie was sitting at the kitchen table. _

_"I'm home," He said. _

_"I can see that." She didn't sound too good. Sean thought it might have something to do with the morning sickness. _

_"Yeah. Well, look. I bought a crib. I'm gonna go put it together now." He walked off into the room he had been turning into a nursery. It hadn't been painted from its ugly brown color yet, but he was planning to do that the next day. Taking out the instructions, he began piecing it together. Maddie followed him to the room, standing at the door and looking at the ground. _

_"Sean? I have something to tell you." He turned to her, still smiling. She took a deep breath, not knowing how he was going to react. "I-I had a miscarriage." Sean dropped the piece he was holding. It fell to the floor, sounding as if something had exploded in the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them. _

_"W-what?" _

_"No, no. That's not true. The truth is I had an abortion." She was not ashamed to say it. Sean was stunned into silence. _

_"You killed the baby?" _

_"I didn't kill anything. It was a fetus. Nothing more." Sean now had tears falling down his face. They were tears of anger, tears of sadness. He had wanted this for years. How could she do this to him when she knew that so clearly? _

_"A baby is breathing eighteen days after conception. You were two months along. That baby was alive. It felt everything you did to it." He was crying outright now, not even caring. Maddie still looked as though she could care less. _

_"It would have gotten in the way of my job." _

_"Job? If that is what you cared about, I would have taken care of it! You didn't have to kill it!" He yelled at her, wanting her to feel exactly how he did. "You killed an innocent baby for your job?" _

_"Yes." Sean turned around, not facing her. Angrily whipping at his tears, he tried to keep himself from hitting her. He knew it wouldn't help any in this situation, but it would make him feel better. Finally, he turned back to her; she was still standing there, her face straight, no trace of guilt on it. _

_"I-I want a d-divorce." He said. _

_"What? Why?" _

_"Why?" He laughed. Emotions were surging thorough him like electricity. He was feeling anger, sadness, betrayal, and now, amusement at the fact that she had no clue. "This marriage has been a disaster from the very beginning. You have slept with more men since we got married then I have hairs on my head. You have lied to me constantly, you provoke fights all the time, and to top it all off, you killed my baby!" _

_"It was my body! I have rights!" Sean three the piece of crib he was holding at the wall and stormed out of the house, throwing open his car door and getting in. He backed out of the driveway and started down the road again. He was mad. He wiped the tears from his face again, but they came back quickly. He was a kinder garden teacher. He had given up his position to become vice president in a very successful company for his love for children. A month ago, when Maddie had told him that she was having a baby, he was over the moon. He knew it would be a girl. He was going to name her Katie-Ann. _

_He now knew he was never going to hear her first cry, see her first steps, lose her first tooth, hear her first word, be there for her first birthday. He would never be able to see her off to her first day of school, reassure her that it would be OK. He would never talk to her about her problems with boys, interrogate her first boyfriend. Be there on her wedding day, see his first grandchild born. Anything. She was gone. He hoped he would never have to go back to his old house. He was leaving. After the divorce, he was moving way away. Maybe to New Mexico. That would be nice. He had been there before, nice weather year-round. _

_After the divorce was finalized, he did just that. Moved near Albuquerque New Mexico to a small town. He had a nice two bedroom apartment with quiet neighbors. He was still unpacking. Pulling open a new box, he started hanging the pictures he had carefully wrapped so they would not break. He was starting over. _

**_Three days ago_**

_Sean watched as the two young people played with there two babies. It was so unfair. They didn't even look twenty, yet they had what he had wanted for so many years. They had children. The little girl was very loud, but very pretty. The little boy was quiet, just resting his head on his fathers shoulder. They were both adorable, but the little girl is what caught his eye. She looked just like he had thought his little baby girl would look. It hurt him so much, seeing this young couple with the babies. He stood from the bench that he always sat on at the park. It was about thirty minutes to get here, but it was closer to where he worked than where he lived. From his work place, it was only fifteen minutes. _

_"Mwister?" He looked down to see a little girl standing at his knee, pulling on his pants. He smiled and bent down so he could see into her face. _

_"Yeah?" _

_"I lost my mommy. Could you help me find her?" Sean nodded and picked her up. They walked around the park looking for the girl's mother. When they found her she was frantic, grabbing her daughter and hugging her tightly. She thanked Sean and then left. Sean smiled, realizing he needed to get home and grade his student's work. When he turned to go back, the young couple and baby's were gone. _

**_Two days ago  
_**_  
They were there again, but this time with two other people. The two young men were playing on the basketball court. The two young women were with the baby's this time. They looked to young, the baby's that is, to do much playing. The boys stopped playing and walked over. The one with light brown, longish hair kissed what seemed to be the mother of the children on the cheek and took the little girl out of her hands. They all stood up and walked out of the park, the mother running back to grab the diaper bag she had forgotten. _

_Sean decided that he was going to keep coming back. Maybe, just maybe..._

**Present day**

Sean watched. This time, it was just the mother there. It made sense. The father was only there on weekends, it seemed as though he worked on weekdays. Sean just stood, watching, from under a large tree. He had a plan, and it was going to work, it had to work. He had gone over it countless times. He wanted a daughter.

Waiting for the right time was going to be hard. He had to make sure no one would see him, this had to have perfect timing, or it would not work. He watched as the woman reached into her purse to grab something, but it tipped over. Sighing, she got down on the ground and started picking stuff up. A piece of paper flew away. She picked up her son, who was crying, and ran after it. This was it. He had to do it. Slowly walking toward the stroller, he stopped a few feet from it, making sure no one would see him. Reaching into the stroller, he carefully took the little girl out and ran. He had done it. He now had a baby girl.

Normal P.O.V

Gabriella stuffed the piece of paper back in her purse and took out the pacifier she had been looking for. Reaching into the stroller to give it to Raine, she screamed. Raine was gone.

* * *

Well...reviews make me happy, and type faster. I hope you like this chapter. It is all starting. Will Gabriella and Troy every get Raine back? Will Sean realize what he has done? Will his want for a baby girl make him keep Raine? Review and find out! I mean, read and find out! D Well, I will hopeful have the next chapter up before tomorrow. No promises, though.

Please review?


	15. Katie Ann Whitman

Well, I am trying to make you hate Sean, but even I feel kinda sorry for him. Although he needs to give Raine back, will I make him? Will I make it be ten years when they see her next? Will they ever see her again? Why am I doing this? I am writing the chapter now...

**P.S. **Thank you WinterSapphire, for helping me get this chapter up.

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Troy was standing, his hands on his knees, breathing heavily, when his phone rang. His dad was now allowing him to keep the cell with him since Raine's attack, so Gabriella could call him if it happened again. He immedatly jumped to attention, thinking that something had happened to Raine, he threw the Basketball to Chad and ran over to the bench he had left it on. Picking it up, he opened it an pressed the green button. 

"Hello?"

"T-troy?" It was Gabriella.

"Gabriella, what's wrong?" He was instantly concerned. A few of the players, including Chad, stopped and watched what he was doing. "Are you OK? Is it the twins?"

"R-raine, s-she's g-g-gone." Gabriella was stuttering so badly that it was hard for Troy to understand her.

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Now everyone was looking at him, anxious. Even Mr. Bolton had stopped to see what was wrong.

"I-I t-think she w-was k-kidn-napped." Troy nearly dropped the phone. He couldn't speak. He was in shock. His daughter had been kidnapped? He started pulling on his shoes, trying to concel tears.

"I'll be right there Gabriella." They said a quick good-bye and Troy finished pulling on his shoes. He knew where Gabriella was at, so he didn't need to ask. Shoving his cell phone in his pocket, he started running from the room. Mr. Bolten stopped him before he could leave completly.

"Troy, what is it? Is Raine having another attack?" He was clearly concerned. He had been acting like a proper grandfather for a while now, and Troy didn't quite know what had caused his change of heart.

"No. Raine's missing." And with that, he continued running, not even bothering to change from his basketball clothes. They had to find her, she couldn't be gone. But as he exited the school, he knew that no more than three percent of missing children were ever found again. As he was starting his car, he saw his dad run from the school, out of breath.

"Troy! Wait!" Troy started the car, but didn't drive out of the parking lot. His father was at the car side within seconds. "I'm coning with you." Troy didn't feel like putting up a fight, so he just let his dad climb into the car and started off. The park was only ten minutes away, but somehow, Troy managed to get there within five. He pulled the car into a parking sopt and jumped out, running over to where he saw Gabriella. She was talking with a policeman. He stopped by her side. When she saw him, she threw herself into his arms, crying. Troy couldn't hold back any longer, he started crying as well. Gabriella was clutching Rocket to her tightly, which was making the embrace awkard, but neither of them cared. The policeman cleared his throat, causing them to pull apart.

"Ma'am, I have a few more questions to ask, if you feel up to it." Gabriella nodded. "OK, do you have a picture?" Troy and Gabriella both reached for their wallets, but Troy was faster, for he was not holing Rocket. Taking the picture he always carried out, he handed it to the policeman. It was of the twins and Gabriella, Gabriella's was of him and the twins.

"That's her." He pointed to Raine, who was only a little younger in the picture than she was now.

"Does she have any distungshing marks?"

"N-no...well, y-yes." Gabriella answered. "She cut her head last week. A small scare right aboce her eye-brow." The policeman nodded and wrote something down in his notebook.

"Did you see the person who took her?"

"There w-was someong h-hanging around u-us all d-day, but I didn't t-think much of i-it." Gabriella whipped at her tears. "He h-had blond h-hair and was t-tall. I couldn't s-see his e-eye's or anything. I w-wasn't paying attention to h-him." He nodded again, still writing in the notebook.

"Do you know anyone who might want to hurt your child, or someone who might do something like this?" They both shook their heads, not noticing Mr. Bolton was standing right behind them. Mercefully, Rocket had decided that he was going to be quiet, and let them answer all of the mans questions. "Thank you. We will call you with _anything _we find as soon as we find it. We will also put out a missing report as soon as possible. I am sorry for your loss, and we hope we can help." It sounded to Troy like the man had memorized this, and was not speaking out of general concern. When he left, Gabriells turned her attention back to Troy.

"I-I'm sorry, T-troy."

"Why? This isn't your fault."

"I l-left her a-alone." She was crying uncontrolably again, Troy just stood there, rubbing her back. She had left Raine alone? Why? Normally, she was very protective, and wouldn't leave the twins alone for more than a second. He was sad, worried, and mad all at the same time. Worried for Raine, mad at Gabriella, however little, and sad that this had happened. Troy rested his head on Gabriella's shoulder, knowing that, if they did ever get Raine back, he wasn't leaving her side for anything.

* * *

Sean groaned as he looked into the backseat. The little girl was crying loudly, and wouldn't stop. He was starting to get a headache, and he still had four hours to go. Reaching back, he started rubbing her leg. She continued to cry loudly. Nothing he was doing was working. He couldn't wait until they got home. He had everything set up, well, not really, but he had a place for her to stay. He would finish setting up the crib when he got there. In the meantime, he needed painkiller, and to change the little girl out of the outfit she was wearing. Pulling up to a gas station, he reached into the back seat and took the little girl out, pulling off her overalls, leaving her only in a diaper. Wrapping her in a blue blanket, he walked inside. She had so little hair, although a lot for sucha young baby, she could pass for a boy. He was going to call her 'Jack' for the time being. 

"Hello, can I help you?" The desk clerk asked. Sean was extremly nervous.

"Um, yea. I need some Asprin and a pacifier." The desk clerk nodded and showed him where the items were at, then Sean paid in a hurry and walked out of the store. Putting the pacirier into Raine's mouth, he placed her back into the carseat. She sucked on it for a moment, before spitting it right back out and continued her loud crying. Taking several of the Asprin pills, Sean started up the car again and drove off, wanting to be back home in his nice, cozy bed.

* * *

Troy was now sitting in the apartment he and Gabriella were renting. They were planning on getting married soon, and decided that they needed a place of their own. They had started painting the baby's rooms, Raine's was pink and purple while Rocket's was blue and green. They were nearly finished. It was a thee room apartment, and they were giving each of the twins their own room. Gabriella was sitting in the room next to Troy, which was Raine's room. She was holding her purple, flowered blanket clutched tightly to her chest, crying. Troy was numb. He wanted to be mad at Gabriella, but he just couldn't. He knew he should, for she had left their baby alone, for however breif a time, but he couldn't. And he didn't know why. He stood up and walked into Raine's room, Wrapping Gabriella in a hug. She colappsed into his arms, shaking with sobs. Neither one of them spoke. 

This went on for several days. Troy and Gabriella hads stopped going to school. Their friends would stop by and visit them sometimes, but besides that, they wanted to be alone. There was no good news from the police, and Troy was starting to worry that the person who had done this was gone. Gone and would never be found. He did not openly show his emotions, for he knew he had to be strong for Gabriella.

One day, he broke down and allowed himself to be mad at Gabriella. They were sitting at the kitchen table, Rocket was sleeping.

"Why did you leave her alone?" Troy asked, wanting to know.

"I was trying to catch something. I was keeping an eye on her, I don't know how he got to her. Troy, I swear I was!"

"Why did you leave her alone?" Troy said again, tears forming in his eye's."Why didn't you take her with you?" Gabriella just shook her head, tears slipping down her face as well. She was sobbing loudly now, just wanting everything to go back to how it was. Troy stood up from the table, grabbing the keys to the car and walking out of the kitchen. Gabriella didn't even bother to ask where he was going, for she knew that he was going to the park. Wanting to be close to the last place they had seen his baby. The fight grew steadily worse. Sometimes they would scream, other times they would just quietly argue. Rocket was extremly cranky to top it all off. Troy and Gabriella drifted further and further apart.

One day, five months later, the call came that gave them all hope, yet filled them with fear at the same time.

* * *

_(I know, I am evil, but I am not showing that yet.) _**Four Months Ago**/Raine has been gone for one month 

Sean pulled a shirt over his head and walked out into the living room, toweling his hair dry from his shower. He stopped in mid-step when he saw Katie (That is what he named Raine) holding herself up on the play-pen he had left her in. He hadn't bothered to raise the sides, thinking she couldn't get out. She was only five months old, for goodness sake! But, nonetheless, she was out, and standing skakily on her little feet. She was wearing wearing a sleeper. It was bright purple, and had footies.She turned and saw him, smiling to show her first two teeth. Taking her hands off of the crib, Katie let go and attempted to walk. She got three steps before falling to the ground. Sean smiled widly and ran over, sweeping her into his arms and kissing her on the forehead.

"You did it! You walked!" She smiled again, reaching out to play with one of the buttons on his shirt. Sticking it into her mouth and sucking on it. "You hungry? OK, I'll get something." He walked into the kitchen and placed her into her high-chair, where she clapped her hands and hit them on the tray. Sean took a jar of gerber baby food from the shelf and opened it, walking back over sitting down to feed Katie. It took three tries to get rid of one spoonful, for she spit half of it back out each time and he had to scrape it off of her face.

After breakfast, he took her out of the highchair and placed her back into her playpen, sure to raise the sides this time, and went off to finish some of his paperwork. He had quite his teaching job, and got a desk job so he could take care of Katie. She fell asleep soon, and her quiet snoring filled the room. Deciding that he needed to go down to the store, Sean pulled on his jacket and locked the house up tightly. He had to leave Katie, for it had not been long enough, and he needed to make sure she was not found.

He drove quickly to the seven-eleven down the street and picked up a few things, including more diapers. He needed them. As he slowly walked back to the house, he started thinking. What happened to the woman he took Katie from? As far as he knew, nothing. She would get over it...wouldn't she? Maybe he should give her back. He knew how he felt when he lost his child, surely he didn't want to put anyone else through that. But he couldn't, he loved Katie, and he would be sent to jail if anyone knew. No, he was keeping her. He would raise her as Katie-Ann Whitman. And she would always be his daughter.

He reached the aparment again, and was relived to see that Katie was still sleeping. He walked into the kitchen and threw together something for him to eat before turning on the T.V. and settling himself in fromt of it. The news came on, and he saw a familiar face. It was of the young woman. She was standing with the father of the baby. He was hugging her, both of them were crying. The reporter had cornered them and was trying to get anything out of them she could. She didn't seem to care that she was causing them to relive the moment Raine had gone missing. Sean grabbed the remote and quickly turned the channel to sports. He couldn't watch that, he just couldn't.

Suddenly, the phone rang. He sighed and walked over to it. Who would be calling him? The only person that knew his number was his boss.

"Hello?" He said into the reciever. However, it was not his boss.

"Hey, it's me." Sean's face immedatly addopted a frown.

"Maddie." He said, "What do you want?"

"I want to talk. To say I'm sorry, to ask if we could start over."

"No." Sean said firmly. "I have a life now. I am not coming back. How the hell did you get this number?" He knew he was not going to be able to control his anger much longer.

"I just did. Please, Sean, I love you, I just couldn't have a baby in my life right now."

"You do know that right now, if you hadn't killed it, we would be able to know weither it was a boy or a girl?" Sean said. He had known, hoped, it would be a girl. He had a little girl now, and there was no way he was going back to Maddie. She had broken his heart many, many times. Never again.

"I'm sorry, Sean, I really am."

"Good-bye." He hung up th phone and looked behind him to find Katie staring at him, holding herself up on the edges of her crid, yawning with tiredness. Sean entertained himself the rest of the day by playing with his daughter.

* * *

Well, thats all for now. Hopefully, the next chapter will be up soon, don't know. How do you like it? I had a lot of people screaming at me for the last chapter, sorry 'bout that. D

Please review!


	16. Home again? Or not?

Well, here is the next chapter. I had fun writing this, and I think you will hate Sean even more in this chapter. I read a book like this once, well, not like it, it had a guy kidnapping someone, and it made you like they guy. I don't think I could make you like Sean even if I tried, so I am not going to.

I think I am going to update daily. I have no school anymore, but I do have a job, so it might get in the way. If so, I am very sorry.

**P.S.** Thanks to WinterSapphire for helping me get this up, and to Monica for betaing. Not this chapter yet, though.

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Sean paced around the room. Should he go out, or not?Katie was sleeping, but he didn't want to leave her, what if something happened or she woke up? If he had to go out, he would usually bring her, but he needed to go somewhere extremely public, and he didn't want to expose her yet. He had only had her for two months. But she seemed to adapt well, so he didn't think it would be a problem. He sighed and dropped to the couch, knowing he had to make his mind up, and soon. His boss wanted to meet for lunch in half an hour, and it would take him twenty minutes to get there, in good traffic. Making up his mind, he ran into the nursery and gently picked Katie up, she opened her eye's sleepily and looked at him.  
"Hey, were going to lunch." She didn't listen, but instead settled her head on his shoulder and went back to sleep. Throwing some stuff into Katie's diaper bag, he pulled on his shoes and ran out of the door, putting Katie in her car seat and buckling her in. He got into the driver seat and backed out of the driveway and down into the street. He looked at his watch and drove a little faster. As it turned out, he made it just in time. Running up to the table where his boss sat, he placed Katie's car seat down on the ground and dropped into the seat opposite his boss. 

"Oh, I didn't know you had a child." He smiled and looked down to the ground, where Katie was now opening her eye's again.

"Yea, this is Katie. She is...um...four six months old." He smiled nervously as the Waiter walked up to them.

"Can I take your order?" He asked.

"Yes, I will have the special, and Sean..." He trailed off, letting Sean order on his own.

"Oh, sorry.I'll have a burger and coke." The waiter nodded and walked back. It was an outside restaurant, and the wind was blowing slightly.

"So, about the proposal you sent me, I have looked it over." His boss said, trying to strike up conversation.

"And what did you think?"

"I think it will go over well with the rest of the committee, but there are a few places that you really need to polish up on. I was thinking..." He started drowning on about all sorts of stuff that Sean would have been lucky to understand if he had paid attention in school so many years ago. All of it went right over his head. He was looking beyond their table to where two people were sitting at with their twins children, trying to make them eat. They were two little boys, intent of throwing their food at their dad instead of eating it. Both looked about a year old. The boys reminded him of Katie's brother, her old brother. They had the same mid-dark brown that they could only have gotten from it being a mix of their parents, for one had dark, while that other had light.

"Sean, were you listening?" His boss cut in.

"Sorry, Mr. Jenkins. Yes, I was, and I will consider what you said. Now, about what you think?" The conversation was very long, and it was dark by the time Sean finally got home. Katie was extremely cranky by then. Sean placed her in her playpen and walked into the kitchen to start dinner. When he was done, he came back out to see Katie walking again. She had just let go of the playpen side and was walking toward him, collapsing at his feet. She held on with her little hands and smiled up at him. Picking up his camera, he set her back ten feet and encouraged her to walk again.

"Come on, Daddy wants to get it on tape." He smiled as she stood up again and started. He recorded it up until she fell, then turned the camera off and picked her up, swinging her around and kissing her on the cheek.

**_Two months later  
_**  
Sean yawned and placed Katie in the car. He was going on a business trip for his company, and had to leave early. His plane was leaving from Albuquerque that morning, and he had an hour to drive. Katie was still sleeping, and Sean hoped that she stayed that way, he couldn't deal with a cranky Katie for hours on end. Pulling out of the driveway of the apartment buildings, he started off. It was slow going, for the streets were packed with morning rush hour traffic. He turned on the radio and yawned again, listening to the news caster. It was going to be raining that day, great, he hated flying in the rain. Just then, Katie woke up. Knowing this was going to be a long trip, he sighed and gave Katie her pacifier.

When he arrived at the air port, he was thirty minutes early. Handing in their tickets, he walked into the waiting room and sat down. The man next to them grunted a hello and turned away again, lighting up a cigarette. Sean put Katie on the seat beside him, coughing from the smoke. Katie started coughing and crying. Her cries became steadily quieter as she thrashed around in her car seat. Sean took notice of this immediately.

"Um, sir? Do you think you could put that out? It is upsetting my daughter." He simply grunted again and looked away. Sean sighed, looking back at Katie, she was now gasping for breath and tears were slipping silently down her face. Jumping up, he grabbed the seat and ran to the front desk.

"Ma'am! Please call 911, my daughter is having trouble breathing!" She took no time in doing so, instructing the ambulance where to come. They arrived within ten minutes. By then, Katie wasn't breathing at all. The paramedics tried to intibate her, but her lungs were swollen shut, so they rushed her to the ER. They pushed inside the doors, paramedics yelling.

"Eight-month-old female, Katie-Ann Whitman.She can't breathe and we can't intibate her. Found not breathing on the scene, wasn't breathing for approximately ten minutes. Heart rate is slow, BP is good."

"OK, Trauma room 2 is open. Call Dr. Jensen!" They ran her into a large, yellow room where a young man joined them. He was apparently the pediatrician on call.

"I can't see the chords." One of the doctors sighed, putting down the tube. "OK, lets do a chest tube."

"No!" Dr. Jensen yelled, taking the tube and handing it back to the other Dr. "Mark, when I press on her chest, there should be an air bubble. I want you to follow it down with the tube." Mark nodded and did as he was told.

"I see it..." He trailed off as he inserted the tube in Katie's throat. "Lets bag her!" Soon, Katie was breathing again. Dr. Jensen pulled off his gloves and joined Sean outside the door.

"Are you the father?" When Sean nodded, he continued. "What happened?"

"I don't know, we were waiting for a plane and suddenly she couldn't breathe." Sean was clearly worried. "Is she going to be OK?"

"For now, we have her stabilized, and are running a few tests. Were there medications she could have swallowed? Poison's or toxins in your house, car, or where you were waiting?" Sean shook his head. "Is there any reason that this could have happened?"

"No, I don't think so."

"We have only seen this in one child this young. She was very young, and there was no cause for it either. We can't treat her until we knew what is wrong. We will keep an eye on her breathing, but I want to admit her for observation."

"Whatever will help her. May I ask how you treated the other little child that you found this in?"

"I'm sorry, but that is classified information, and I am not aloud to share it with anyone but that family." Dr. Jensen said. "I will notify you if there is any change, and you may see her shortly. For now, will you wait in the chairs?" Sean nodded and followed a nurse. Dr. Jensen walked back into the room, checking all of the baby's vitals. They were fine. He smiled at the little girl, who was still unconscious. Brushing back the hair on her sweaty forehead, he gasped. Running out of the room, he stopped at the bulletin board, ripping a piece of paper off of it and running back into the room, nearly hitting into one of the nurses. She followed him in.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Look at this." He held up the picture to the baby's face, then showed the nurse the baby's scare. "It say here that her only distinguishing future is a small scare on her forehead." He hit the picture with his finger and smiled from ear to ear. "I think we just found Raine Laureen Bolton."

* * *

Dun dun dun! Well, what do you think? Should I make them get away, should I do something horrible to Raine or Sean? Sean, you say, very well... 

Well, next chappie will be up soon.

Please review!


	17. Remember Me

Well, I am updating. I have been bored _all_ day, and decided to write, that was when I got my computer to work. I messed up again. I am beginning to think there is something to be said for new computers. Mine is old. But it works, so I'll live. That is, it works _some_ of the time.

**P.S.** Thanks to WinterSapphire for helping me get this up, and to Monica for betaing.

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Sean paced the waiting room, waiting for news on Katie. Just then a nurse walked into the room.  
"Mr. Whitman? Will you come with me?" He nodded and stood up and began fidgeting with his jackets zipper. As they walked along the hall, Sean looked into each room. Some of the people were quietly sleeping, while some were fighting with the nurses and doctors. They entered the room where Katie was. Sean ran over and placed a hand on her head and began playing with her hair.

"Is she going to be OK?" He asked, looking up in concern.

"Well, we need to keep her intibated, and I would like to keep her, as I said before, a while for observation." Dr Jensen said, looking uneasy. "Um...we have one more test to take, and we would like to do it as soon as possible."

"Go ahead. Anything that will help." Sean said.

"We need some of her blood, and some of yours. We think that it might help." Sean agreed, still looking at Katie. Dr. Henson turned to his nurse and nodded, indicating her to go outside. he followed her.

"How is this going to help?" She asked.

"I am going to compare their blood types, and if they come out the same, we'll have to run a full DNA test. I want to be sure before we call the parents. I don't want to give them false hope.Oh, Could you to find out what type blood the mother had, Carol?" He asked. She nodded and walked back into the room and began talking with the ma that claimed to be the father of the child. Dr. Jensen sighed and went off to get the supplies to draw the blood.

Twenty minutes later, he took the rubber band off of Sean's upper arm and took the needle out, covering the place where it had been with a piece of cotton and taping it onto his arm.

"There, all done." He smiled and walked out of the room and turned to Carol. "What blood type did the mother have?" He used the term 'mother' lightly, for he didn't know if the man was telling the truth about the little girl's mother dying during birth.

"Um...he said both him and his wife had AB, we will test his blood and the baby's to see if he is telling the truth. We might have to run the DNA test as well."

"OK. Call the lab and tell them. I am going to go grab some lunch."

* * *

Hours later, the blood type results were back. Mr. Whitman's blood type was AB. He claimed that the girl's blood type was AB. The baby's blood type was AO. There was no possible way the baby was the mans unless he was lying about the mother's blood type. Finally, deciding that the man would have known, he made the call to the police department. They said that they would notify the parents immediately, and they would be over within a few minutes. He wasn't kidding. They were there in less than five. The man ran up to the desk.  
"I'm looking for Dr. Jensen." He said, clearly out of breath. Soon, a young man joined them.

"Mr. Bolton, Ms. Montez?" They nodded. "We think we found your daughter, will you please come with me?" He led them into a small room. There was a man waiting on the other side of the glass, held by two police men. Gabriella shrieked when she saw the baby and ran over, picking her up and hugging her tightly, careful not to jar the IV and tubes in her. "I take it that that is Raine?" Troy nodded and walked over, holding Rocket. Raine had woken up. She tried to cry, but wasn't getting to far with the tube in her mouth.

"Here, let me excibate her." He quickly took the tube out of the baby's throat. Raine started crying immediately, loud and shrill. Troy hugged her tightly, tears of joy dripping down his face. Gabriella was crying as well.

"What's wrong? Why is she crying so much? Did you find out who took her?"

"Yes. The man who took her is waiting right outside. Would you like to speak to him?" Troy nodded, although Gabriella looked very unsure. Dr. Jensen walked to the door and brought Sean in. He was in handcuffs now. He looked at the floor. Raine stopped crying when she saw him and held out her hands, wanting to go to him. Gabriella and Troy looked at her weirdly.

"Why is she doing that?" Gabriella asked, new tears surfacing. "Why doesn't she remember us?" Dr. Jensen sighed.

"I thought this might happen. When a baby is young, from birth to about six months, they do not remember much that happens, and will willing go to a complete stranger. Most baby's start remembering their surroundings and people who are around them anywhere from seven months to a year. I think Raine does not remember you, but Mr. Whitman instead. This can be overcome, but it will take a lot of work and a lot of accepting and contribution on your part. You are going to have to work at it." After Dr. Jensen was done speaking, a policeman cut in.

"Ma'am, Sir, would you like to press charges?" Although he knew he was wasting his breath asking, he knew he had to anyway. Gabriella nodded, taking Raine from Troy. She had started crying again, holding out her arms to Sean and wiggling in Gabriella's arms. She was now to the point of screaming.

"Can I hold her one last time?" Sean asked. Troy glared at him, wanting to do nothing but rip him limb from limb.

"It might help." Dr. Jensen said gently, not wanting to upset the newly reunited family. Gabriella sighed, turning to Troy.

"Are you sure it will help?" He asked.

"I don't know. It might." Troy sighed, but gently took the screaming, thrashing baby from Gabriella as the police took the handcuffs off of Sean. He reached out and took Raine into his arms. She immediately went silent, resting her head on his shoulder and grabbing his shirt in both of her fists. Gabriella burst into tears at the sight of her daughter totally comfortable with the man that had taken her from their lives. Troy put his arms around her, in attempt to comfort her. She cried into his chest, her body shaking with sobs.

"Can we have her back now?" He asked after a moment of silence. The only sounds in the room were of Gabriella crying, and Raine whimpering slightly. Rocket was on the hospital bed that they had taken Raine from. He was sititng up, sucking on his fingers. The police nodded, motioning Sean to give Raine back. As soon as Gabriella had Raine back in her arms, they took Sean from the room. Raine started crying, holding her arms out for Sean, but he didn't come back.

"Can I call our parents?" Troy asked, an arm still around Gabriella's waist. Dr. Jensen nodded, showing Troy where the phone was. "I'll be right back." He whispered into her ear, walking over to the opposite wall and picking the phone up with shaking hands. The person picked up on the third ring.

"Dad?" There was silence for a moment. "I'm at the hospital, they found Raine." A small smile flickered over Troy's face, it was replaced with a frown at the sound of Raine's cry's filling the room. "The problem is she doesn't remember us. She only remembers the man that took her." There was another pause as Troy's dad spoke. "OK. See you in a bit." He hung up the phone, his hand lingering on it for a minute as he tried to conceal his tears. How could he have done that? That man had torn Raine from their lives, and now she didn't even remember who they were. He walked back over to Gabriella.

"How is she?" He asked quietly. Gabriella just shrugged, tears slipping down her face. Troy brushed the hair on Raine's head back. She just screamed, recoiled, as he touched her. Troy couldn't hold them back any longer. Letting his tears fall, he looked at the floor. His baby wouldn't even let him touch her. It wasn't fair. Dr. Jensen spoke up.

"You know, it might help if she saw her brother." Gabriella nodded, placing the screaming Raine onto the bed where Rocket sat. He reached out to touch her with one of his hands as he stuck the other into his mouth. Raine stopped crying, moving away slightly as he reached to her, but not screaming again. After a second, she seemed to except him and moved closer, crawling across the bed to reach him.

"Why does she remember Rocket?" Troy asked.

"Well, I don't think she does remember him. But she is more open to children her age than adults. I am guessing she is more open to Rocket because he does not pose a threat. Lets say that a small child, four or five, meets an older man on the street, what will they do? Since children don't open up to strangers, the child will most likely run away or be very careful. Now, if a young child meets another young child, they will most likely play together, or at least speak." Troy nodded, placing his hand on Raine's shoulder. She was not steadily sitting up, and Troy was afraid she would fall off of the bed.

"So, she is more comfortable around Rocket than us?" Gabriella asked in a small voice.

"Yes. I am thinking you are going to need to go through sessions with a specialist to help her. Eventually, hopefully, she will become more open around you, and accept you. I am thinking in a few years, she will still remember this, but it will not impact her life. Oh, and I think she needs a teething ring. More teeth are coming in in the back."

"Thank you." Troy said. "For all of your help in getting her back."

"I am glad that I could be of help." He smiled. "If there is anything else you need, please feel free to call me." He was about to walk out of the door when Troy stopped him.

"Um...if you don't mind my asking, why did she come in here?"

"Oh, she had an attack. I have no idea what from, but she couldn't breathe when she came in."

"She has had a few before. Our doctor doesn't know what caused it either. Is there anything for it?" Troy asked.

"Well, normally, we would suggest an inhaler and see how it works. But you can't use inhalers on baby's."

"So what do you use for baby's?"

"A nebulizer. It is hooked up to a machine. You take the mask and hold it over the child's mouth and nose. A few pumps from the machine and the liquid medication will be turned into a mist thatthe childcan easily inhale." Dr. Jensen explained. "But, with your permission, we would like to try a new medication that we have developed for infants with breathing problems. We have theorized that what is happening to Raine is most likely to happen to children that are twins. When in the womb, one child is more likely to be healthier than the other. We are thinking, from her size and lung condition, she was the smaller of the two."

"Lung condition?" Gabriella asked, confused.

"Yes. Whenever she is exposed to smoke, dust or anything else that would normally upset a child, her lungs seem to close up. The medicine we have developed has been tested in children over two, and has worked wonderfully. We can't test it in younger children, because they don't usually start showing symptoms until that are at least two. Would you be willing t try it on Raine? There would be no serious complications." They seemed to think this over for a minute, then nodded.

"How does it work?" Troy asked, clearly concerned.

"It helps relax the lung muscels, which helps them expand when the child breaths in."

"Sure, then. We can give it a shot." Just then Mr. and Mrs. Bolton bolted (Haha) into the room.

"Is she OK? Where is she?" Was the first thing out of Mr. Bolton's mouth.

"She's fine dad." Troy said, moving out of the way so his parents could see Raine. She was now playing with Rocket. Wrapping her arms around her chest, Gabriella turned to Troy. He smiled reassuringly and put his arm around her waist. Mrs. Bolton tried to pickRaine up. She started her shrill screaming again. Raine continued crying, and looked up at Gabriella. A million emotions seemed to cross over her face before holding out her hands to be held. Gabriella was clearly surprised, but Troy encouraged her to take Raine. Slowly taking the baby from Mrs. Bolton, Gabriella braced herself for the shrill screams. They didn't come. Looking down at Raine, she smiled.

"Well, looks like Raine likes you." Troy said, smiling as well.

"I think it is because Gabriella is young, and Raine is less afraid of her than a man, because she is a girl herself." Dr Jensen said, who was now over on the other end of the room, checking on another patient. Gabriella just grinned, her tears slowing. She was happy.

* * *

Troy stumbled off of the couch, leaning on the wall for support as he walked down the hall Raine was awake. Again. This was supposed to stop when they were four months! Now, each time Raine woke up, she also woke up Rocket. He was now getting into a habit of waking up in the middle of the night again, whereas he had begun sleeping through it months ago. Still, he would much rather be up in the middle of the night than not have Raine at all. Walking into Raine's room, he turned on the light to find Raine thrashing around in her crib, screaming. He and Gabriella had been staying in the new apartment because it was closer to where they were going to see the specialist each day. It was also more convient to have them both close to Raine while she was getting used to them again.

"It's OK, daddy's here now." He reached into the crib and picked Raine up. She was starting to accept them now, Gabriella more so than Troy. She quieted down a little, but not much. Pulling back the lower piece of her nightgown, he groaned. "I changed you a few hours ago." He placed her onto the changing table and pulled off her clothes, putting them in the wast basket and taking off her dirty diaper, setting it to the side until he could get to the trash. After cleaning her up, he fastened a clean diaper around her waist and dressed her in a purple fuzzy. He was about to pick her up when he dropped the diaper wipes. Sighing, he bent down to pick them up. Unfortunately, Raine found this a good time to wave her arms and knock the dirty diaper off of the edge of the changing table. There was a laugh from the door as Troy stood up. Gabriella was grinning at the diaper he had on his head.

"Ha ha, very funny." He picked if off, smelling greatly of baby doo, and walked to the trash, dropping it in.

"Why don't I take care of her. You can take a shower." Raine was laughing now, pointing to Troy with her little finger. Troy grinned, despite his situation.

"And what if I don't?"

"I am not letting you back on the couch." They had decided to sleep apart when they were at the apartment until they were married, which they were planning to be soon. they were both eighteen, and found no reason that they should wait.

"Fine. Have it your way." He smiled again and walked out of the room, Gabriella holding her nose when he passed her. She then walked over to Raine and picked her up.

"Hey, sweetie. Daddy stinks, doesn't he?"

* * *

Yawn Well, there you are. Sorry for typos and spelling mistakes. I am tired. It is 2am, and I just decided to finish this instead of waiting until tomorrow. It will not be up at 2am, for I cannot do it myself. My computer is messed up. And some people actually sleep when your supposed to. Grin

Please Review! 


	18. Forever Our Song

Me again! Sorry for not updating so quickly, I was busy trying to get the words to all of the songs in HSM. As you can imagine, I had to watch it a few hundred times to do so. Well, the song parts at least. Sorry again!

Oh, my computer is working again, and I can update on my own now! Although I do not know how it will stay that way.

**_Heads up!_** **Gabriella singing is BOLD** _and Troy is ITALICS_. Both singing is NORMAL.

**P.S.** Thanks to Monica for betaing.

* * *

Troy played with the edge of his black suit and paced back and forth around the room. Rocket was sitting with Chad, crying. It wasn't helping his nerves. Finally fed up with it, he walked over to Chad and took Rocket, he immediately stopped crying. Just then, as Troy started pacing again, Mr. Bolton walked into the room.  
"Come on, Troy. I wasn't even this nervous. And you mom had no good reason to marry me." He grinned and Troy even cracked a smile.

"I know. I'm just nervous. God, I need to shake this." Rocket started whining again and Troy sighed. "Dad, how much longer?"

"Um..." He looked at his watch. "Ten minutes. Are you ready?"

"Yup...no...I don't know..." He looked even more nervous than he was. Chad laughed.

"Dude, if you keep this up, you won't be able to remember your vows."

"Vows? What were my vows again?" Troy asked, whipping sweat from his forehead. Mr. Bolton laughed and took Rocket from Troy. Rocket stuck out his bottom lip and frowned up at him. "Troy, I don't think your son is to fond of me."

"No that's not it, he's just grumpy today. Raine woke him up three times last night, and I got him up at seven to get ready. And his suit didn't fit! Man, I really should have let Gabriella and Taylor go shopping. Chad told me I didn't need to try the suit on Rocket, that it looked like it would fit. What he failed to mention was it was 100 cotton and it shrunk." Troy glared at Chad, momentarily forgetting his nervousness.

"Yup. You know, I planned me and your mothers wedding, and it turned out OK. Except the ring girl swallowed the rings. I guess she was to young."

"Daad...not helping..." Troy said, once again, continuing his pacing.

"Sorry. Oh, there is the cue. Get your butt out there and up the aisle." Troy nodded and pulled at his already loose collar. He went up to the top of the aisle and stood with the priest. Chad also got in place, for he was the best man. He looked over the cround. All of his friends and family were there. Besides Kelsi, Taylor and Gabriella. Kelsi and Taylor were the flower girls. He took a deep breath as Gabriella started walking out.

* * *

_Five minutes ago with Gabriella_

"Are you sure it's straight?" Gabriella asked, messing with her hair. She smiled brightly. She had thought she was going to be nervous, but she actually couldn't wait to get up there. Raine was sitting with Ms. Montez, playing with one of the flowers Kelsi had given her. Taylor and Kelsi were wearing peach dresses with red bows around their waists, much to Taylor's dislike. And Gabriella was wearing a snow white dress that flowed out around her feet. It was loose at the bottom, but got tighter as it went up, the top, which only had one sleeve,it gently hugged her body. The sleeve was long, all the way to her wrist, part of it going out around her hand and fingers. The other hand was bare except for a small, white glove. Her hair was all pulled back into a bun with flowers in it. Mrs. Bolton and Ms. Montez had helped all of the girls get ready.

"Yes, it is fine, sweetie. You look great." Ms. Montez kissed her daughter on the forehead. Raine, who was still in her arms, reached out, wanting to go to Gabriella.Gabriella took Raine and rested her on her hip.

"Thanks mom. Um..will you take Raine back when I go out?" She nodded and went over to check with Taylor and Kelsi. Taylor was still trying to get the bow around her waist to go a little lower. She said it was to close to her face, and she could see it to well. She hated anything pink, or anything that had bright, red bows.

"Ohhh...Gabriella, come on, it's time!" Mrs. Bolton shoved her out of the door.

Before she knew it, she was standing up at the top of the aisle with Troy. He looked very nervous. Suddenly, the music stopped and the priest start talking.

"Troy Bolton, do you take Gabriella Montez to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and worse, in sickness and in health, and will you love and cherish her until death do you part?" Troy was now looking very, very nervous

"I-I do."

"And do you, Gabriella Montez, take Troy Bolton to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and worse, in sickness and in health, and will you love and cherish him until death do you part?" Gabriella was now almost jumping in excitement.

"I do!"

"You may now kiss the bride." And he did. After the cemenory, Troy and Gabriella slowly danced to the music. Everyone was either dancing, or just sitting around talking. It seemed that half the school was there. Raine and Rocket were being watched by their grandparents, and were getting quite a lot of attention from Troy's relatives. Gabriella noticed.

"Wow. You would think that they had never seen a baby before." Troy laughed.

"No, they're just surprised." He saw the confused look on Gabriella's face and explained. "When I was in middle school, we were still living near most of my family. We all went to the same school. All throughout school, until I met you, I was never involved with anyone. Each of my cousins had about ten girlfriends a year. They told me I was never going to get married. Guess what? I am. And only one of them are, no kids. I guess it is a little strange. I mean, I just turned eighteen, I am married and have two kids. Although I wouldn't have it any other way." Gabriella smiled and rested her head on Troy's shoulder as they danced slowly. The music stopped and Chad and Taylor walked up to them, insane grins on their faces.

"Yes?" Troy asked. They didn't answer, but instead grabbed both Troy and Gabriella and started hauling them up to the stage. "Oh, come on!" Troy screamed as they stood up there. It was awkward. Gabriella was in a huge, white wedding dress and Troy was wearing a Tux. The music started playing and Troy smiled, it was their song. He started singing.

_Living in my own world  
didn't understand  
that anything can happen  
when you take a chance_

**I never believed in  
What I couldn't see  
I never opened my heart--**_Oohh  
_**To all the possibilties**

I know **that something has changed**  
Never felt this way  
**And right here tonight**

This could be the start  
Of something new  
It feels so right  
To be here with you--_Ohhh_

_And now, looking in your eye's  
I feel in my heart  
_The start of something new

_Now who'd have ever thought  
That we'd both be here tonight  
_  
**And the world looks so much brighter**  
_(Brighter, Brighter)_  
**With you by my side**  
_(By my side)_

I know that something has changed  
Never felt this way  
I know it for real  
This could be the start  
Of something new  
It feels so right  
To be here with you

And now, looking in your eye's  
I feel in my heart  
The start of something new

_I never knew it could happen  
Till' it happened to me_-_Ohhh  
_

**I didn't know it before  
But now it's easy to see  
**_Ohhh..._

It's the start  
Of something new  
It feels so right  
To be here with you  
And now, looking in your eye's  
I feel in my heart

That it's the start  
Of something new  
It feels so right _(So right)  
_To be here with you _(Ohhh)  
_And now, looking in your eye's  
I feel in my heart  
_(Feel in my heart)_

**The start of something new**

_The start of something new_

The start of something new...

They both trailed off as the song finished. Gabriella smiled over at Troy. It would forever be their song. The crowd erupted in applause as they looked out into it. Troy leaned over and kissed Gabriella on the lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him there. They pulled apart at the sound of Raine.

"Dada!" Troy looked out into the crowd. Raine was being held by a smiling Ms. Montez. Raine was pointing at Troy, who still had his arm wrapped around Gabriella. She smiled up at him.

"Her first word!" Gabriella exclaimed. Chad turned to Taylor.

"Pay up!" She groaned and took out her wallet,pulling out a ten and shoving it into his hand. Everyone laughed. Troy walked off the stage and took Raine into his arms, swinging her around and kissing her on the forehead.

"That's my girl."

"Dada!" She said again, sticking her fingers into her mouth. Troy kissed her again and played with her hair. Gabriella had put it into a tiny ponytail on top of her head. She had changed a lot since birth. Her hair was still a mix of both Gabriella's and Troy's, but it was somehow different. Her eyes were a bright blue, like her brothers, and she had grown a ton. She was still the smaller of the twins, but she was bigger. Gabriella walked up beside Raine and straightened her peach dress.

"Can you say mama?"

"Mamamamamama!" Raine said proudly. Troy laughed.

"We need to have her work on cutting that down just a bit." Gabriella joined in the laughing. Nothing could ruin this day.

* * *

_Three months later...The twins birthday._

Gabriella threw the towel over her shoulder and ran after Raine. She had just gotten her out of the bath, and before she knew it, Raine had run out of the bathroom butt naked. She ran, screaming, into the living room where Chad, Taylor, Jason, Kelsi and her and Troy's parents sat. Raine stopped, placing her finger on her lip when she saw everyone. Screaming even louder, she ran to Troy, who looked as though he had just woken up, and grabbed onto his leg, wrapping her arms around it and backing up as though she were trying to run away backwards. He picked her up and turned to Gabriella.

"Here you go." He yawned and walked back into the bedroom.

"What's wrong with him?" Chad asked.

"Nothing. He was just up all night. Rocket has a fever and couldn't sleep. Troy stayed up all night with him."

"Is Rocket OK?" Mr. Bolton asked.

"Yea, he's finally sleeping now. He has a fever of 101.1, and we are going to take him to the doctor if it goes any higher. Thankfully, Raine doesn't seem to have caught it. Will you excuse me? Raine needs clothes..." She walked off into Raine's room and dressed her in a pair of light khaki shorts and a pink T-shirt with a big flower in the middle. Scraping her hair into a pony-tail, she tied it up and went to check on Rocket. Seeing that he was still sleeping, she walked back into the living room.

"Is there cake?" Chad asked. Taylor elbowed him.

"Yes, I will get it out in a second." Gabriella put Raine on the floor and she immediately started running around. "Just a second...TROY!" She poked her head into their bedroom. "You have slept for seven hours, now help me!" He was out in a record of ten seconds, although he still looked dead.

"Yes?"

"Chad wants cake." Just then Raine hit her head into the coffee table and fell to the ground, and Rocket started screaming. Gabriella sighed and ran to help Raine.

"This is going to be a long day." Troy muttered before heading off to get Rocket.

* * *

Weeeell, I am thinking of ending it there. What do you think? Nah, I am adding more chapters. And Gabriella ad Troy get to know the ER better and better... Next chapter is the twins birthday, and some more after it.

Please Review!


	19. Premature

Well, here you go! I am going to be short in my A/N's this time. Oh, and all the medical information in this might not be right. I'm 18! Bare with me!

**P.S.** Thanks to Monica for betaing this.

* * *

Gabriella groaned and shifted in bed. Troy, who was already up, looked over in concern. She hadn't been able to sleep for the last few days, and had been sick with vomiting anda fever for even longer. She refused to let him bring her to the doctor, that it was just Rocket's flu. Troy was very worried, he had even taken a few days off of work to watch over her. Mrs. Bolton had been kind enough to take the twins so they could both relax. Suddenly, Gabriella woke up. Troy walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, placing his hand on her forehead to see if it was still as hot. He sighed and stood up.

"Gabriella, I am worried. Please let me take you to the hospital." She shook her head, turning to the side, not wanting Troy to see her. He reached over and gently turned her head back toward him. "Please." Finally Gabriella caved. Troy smiled the slightest bit and stood back up.

"Where are you going?" Gabriella asked in a horse voice.

"I am going to call my boss and see if I can take another day off." Gabriella nodded and rolled over onto her side again, wanting to curl up into a ball and die. Soon, Troy was off the phone and came back into the bedroom, announcing that he could take a day off. He helped Gabriella get dressed, for she was having trouble standing up. When they were done, Troy helped Gabriella into the car and began driving to the ER. He knew getting an appointment with their doctor would be hell, so going to the ER was the quickest option. When they arrived, Troy signed up and they went to wait in chairs. Gabriella curled up against him and fell asleep. It was a little over two hours before their name was called.

"Bolton?" Troy stood up, waking Gabriella and following the nurse back to the exam room. She showed them where Gabriella was to lay, and sat down on a stool. "I'm Nurse Sarah's. What are your symptoms?" Boy, did she get right to the point.

"Um, she has had a fever for several days now, some vomiting and extreme stomach cramps."

"Most of those symptoms are of the flu. But I would like to run some tests anyway." Gabriella nodded and relaxed into the bed. She knew she was going to be here for a while. The nurse smiled and stood up, walking out of the room. Another nurse was in the room within ten minutes and did the tests. Now, all they had to do was wait. Troy kept Gabriella company the whole time.

"Troy, should I call my mom?"

"No, not unless the tests snow something. We don't need to get her worried for no good reason." Gabriella agreed and they went back to being silent. Troy was worried that the tests would show something horrible. What if there was something seriously wrong with Gabriella? Finally, after hours, frequent nurse and doctor visits, a doctor cam back in with the results of the tests.

"Well, Gabriella, you're pregnant." Gabriella and Troy were shocked. Again?

"Then why do I feel like crap?" Gabriella asked, the shock not totally set in yet. "I didn't feel like this when I was pregnant with the twins." The doctor looked slightly surprised when he heard that she had been pregnant before, but made no comment. Troy still sat there, totally shocked, not moving.

"Well, I don't know. Now that we know that you are pregnant, we can run some further tests...if that is OK with you." Gabriella nodded and sat back. She then asked the question she had been wanting to.

"How far?" She knew it couldn't be more than two months, or she would have known.

"Seven weeks. We would also like to do an ultrasound. As soon as possible, in fact. I am thinking that your symptoms are just the flu, but as I said,I need to do more tests to be sure." She smiled and stood up, walking out of the room. Troy slowly turned to Gabriella. She was smiling. Troy didn't know how she could be. He was the only one with a job, and a small one at that! He couldn't get a decdent job until he was through college. They had themselves and twins to support already, how could they do another baby? He would love another child, no doubt, but not now. He would live with it, though. Now that he knew about it, there was no way he would suggest giving it up. However, clothes wouldn't be a problem. They had a boy and a girl, so no matter what it turned out to be, they would have clothes.

"Wow." Was all he said. The twins were only a year and three months. They would only be two by the time this baby arrived. Hopefully, it would be a baby, and not babies. Gabriella was still grinning.

"Can I call my mom now?" Troy nodded numbly and walked out the door, asking a passing nurse if he could use the phone. She said yes, so Troy helped Gabriella to it. Her mom picked up on the third ring.

"Mom?"

"Hi, Gabriella!" Her mom said, she sounded stressed. "Rocket, no crayons! Sorry, Troy's parents had me watch the twins. They needed time after three days. I agreed. Gabriella, honestly, I don't know how you do it! Rocket eats anything he can get his hands on, and Raine isn't exactly a walk in the park." Gabriella laughed.

"Sorry, mom. Rocket hasn't eaten anything dangerous, has he?" She was worried for a good reason. Sure, Troy had baby-proofed their apartment, but her mom hadn't done so to her house.

"No, he hasn't, he tried to eat a crayon a second ago, but I got there in time. Raine is sleeping now, she doesn't look to good. I think she may have Rockets flu. Man, he has had it twice in the last three months. Poor kid. So, where are you calling from, the number on my Caller ID is not familiar."

"Um...the Hospital." She knew her mom was going to freak.

"Are you OK? Did Troy finally convince you to go?"

"Yes to both. They are still running some tests, although they know the main reason for my problem." She took a deep breath, knowing it would be better to get it out now. "Mom, I'm pregnant." Her mom was silent, and Gabriella was worried something had happened.

"Y-your kidding...right?"

"No, sorry mom." Silence once again met her ears.

"Wow."

* * *

At eighteen weeks, the doctor alerted Gabriella that she was 1 cm dilated. He quickly assured her that it could be nothing, and told her to come back in a week for another checkup. If it remained at 1 cm, it would likely stay that way for the remainder of her pregnancy. Gabriella was scared, as was Troy. The doctors ordered her on complete bed rest for that week. When she went back, it was still holding. But just to be on the safe side, her O.B. scheduled her for weekly checkups for the remainder of her pregnancy. She was not allowed to lift heavy things, push anything, or walk far, so Troy had to do most of the work with the twins. Either Gabriella's mom, or when she could, Taylor, would stay with Gabriella all day to help with the twins---they were considered heavy lifting--while Troy was at work.

Gabriella went to the weekly appointments, and was relieved that she seemed to be holding at 1 cm. She was now aloud to walk around more, but was still on bed rest. She was half-way through her pregnancy, and was still having stomach pains and often vomiting. Twenty weeks into the pregnancy, Gabriella told Dr. Malin, her O.B., that she'd been feeling some kind of pressure that wasn't labor, and she didn't' think it was Braxton-Hicks, just felt like pressure. Her O.B.checked her cervix and it was fine, so he ordered a urine sample, a "clean catch," so he could test for infection.

"An infection could throw you into premature labor, and we don't want that." He had said. That had been three days ago. The pressure was worse than ever. That night, when she told Troy, he called their O.B. and told him what was going on. He told them he would meet them at the hospital the next day. On the way, Gabriella was shaking.

"What's wrong?" Troy asked as he turned into the parking lot. He went over to Gabriella's door and opened it for her. She got out and stood up, placing her hand on her slightly large stomach.

"Nothing. I'm worried Troy." He smiled reassuringly, and led her into the Hospital. He did not speak,he feared his voice would betray him--he was worried as well. They went to the front desk and sighed in. Ten minutes later, Dr. Malin showed up and led them to a small, white room.

"Will you please change into this?" He held out a whilt gown and Gabriella nodded, taking it from him. "I will leave the room and give you some privacy." Gabriella quickly changed and sat up on the bed. Dr. Malin came back in.

"OK. I am going to put you on a monitor, check to make sure you aren't in labor."

"I'm not in labor. I would know, I've been through it twice." At the confused look on Dr. Malin's face, Gabriella explained. "Twins."

"Oh. Well, I am just going to make sure. Now, lay back." He attached the machine to her, and watched it for what seemed like hours, but in reality, was only one. "I am still concerned. This is most unusual. I am thinking it could be a infection. I didn't see anything in your test results, but I am worried. I am going to put you on Antibiotics, just in case." He did, and soon after that, he sent Gabriella home. Everything was fine for a month, weekly checkups showed nothing but that her baby was healthy, and so was Gabriella. The Antibiotics seemed to have done the trick. The pressure was also gone. Then it happened. One morning, while Troy was playing with the twins and Gabriella was in bed, reading. She screamed, grabbing her stomach. Troy was by her side in seconds.

"What's wrong?" Raine trailed behind him, still in her pink PJ's and holding her big Teddy bear in one arm, and her blanky in the other. Troy picked her up and placed her on the bed beside Gabriella. Raine wrapped her arms around Gabriella's neck and handed her the Teddy bear. Gabriella took it, looking over her daughter's head to see Troy's concerned face.

"I...it felt like a contraction. But it can't be! I am only twenty-six weeks along!" That was it for Troy. He packed up Raine and Rocket, still in their PJ's, and got Gabriella out to the car, rushing her to the ER. As soon as they were there, they were taken straight up to Labor and Delivery. Dr. Malin was called in, and immediately hooked Gabriella up to a machine. She was in labor.

* * *

Well, whatcha think? Hmmm? I throw at you that Gabriella is pregnant, she is going into premature labor, and that she is having pregnancy problems in one chapter. Next chapter: Does the baby live? When Raine has another attack away from all medications, what will happen to her?

Please review!


	20. Lilith Rose Bolton

Well, here is the next chapter. It is short because I am going on a trip, and will not have much computer access for the next few days. I originally had a very long chapter, but split it into three so I would be able to update while I am gone. So sorry!

**P.S.** Thanks to Monica for betaing! And to all my reviewers!

* * *

"Well, the way I see it, we have two options." Dr. Malin said. He sat on a stool and faced Troy and Gabriella. The machine was showing frequent contractions, but they were short and small. "We could either deliver the baby, or give you drugs to try and stop the labor. If we deliver the baby, it will have an extended stay in the NICU, but with you being twenty-six weeks into your pregnancy, and the drugs we have been developing, your baby would have a good chance of surviving."  
"How good?" Troy asked.

"More than 40 percent. I would bet even 50."

"And if we stop the labor?" Gabriella asked, breathing through another contraction.

"It could work. You would be on complete bed rest, no getting out of bed unless it is to use the restroom. If it didn't work, you would have to deliver the baby anyway, and the drug would lower it's chances of living by at least 10 percent. It is a new drug, and it does stop the delivery in more than seventy percent of women, but the thirty that it didn't work in, most of them were moms under twenty five years old." Gabriella took a deep breath. She had no idea what to do.

"What would you do?"

"I would deliver the baby." Dr. Malin said honestly. "Forty or fifty percent chance at life is still good. If we do deliver the baby, we need to give you medications that will be transferred to the baby to strengthen it's lungs. And soon. If we do not, the force of the respirator that we will put it on will most likely rip the lungs open. We also need to do an ultrasound to make sure that the baby is not in distress. Would you like to know the sex of it?" Troy turned to Gabriella. She nodded. Dr. Malin told one of the nurses to go grab the machine. She was back within three minutes.

"OK, this is going to be cold." Gabriella nodded, knowing just exactly how cold the gel was. He rubbed it around on her stomach, and then started looking around. "Everything looks OK. The cord is not around the neck, and the baby is not in distress. Now, lets see if we can find out if this is a boy or a girl." It took about five minutes, but finally, Dr. Malin announced it. "It's a girl." Gabriella smiled widely.

"Well, Raine will have a sister now." Troy said, smiling as well. He turned to Dr. Malin. "So, her chances are good if we go through with the delivery?"

"Yes. I am betting fifty percent. Once she is born, we will know more. After seventy-two hours, we should know a lot more about her chances. So, are we going ahead with the delivery?"

"Yes." Gabriella announced.

* * *

Troy stood by Gabriella's bed. She had been in labor for four hours, and she was five cm dilated. Their parents had been called by Troy, made aware of the situation, and although Troy assured them that they didn't need to come, they came anyway. Raine and Rocket were with their Grandparents, so Troy and Gabriella could be alone. The doctor was sitting across the room with the neonatologist from the NICU, talking in hushed tones. Gabriella had been given medications to help strengthen the baby's lungs, and was now resting, waiting until she could deliver. Troy got up and walked over to the doctors.  
"Um, how much longer?"

"Not long now. She doesn't have to be fully dilated for her to deliver. The baby is going to be small, so it shouldn't be hard for her to deliver. Within the hour." And it was. Within thirty minutes, Gabriella was ready to deliver. Dr. Malin waited at his place at the end of the bed.

"Gabriella, next contraction, it is time to push." It was lot easier than she would have expected. As soon as her baby was out, they whisked her away. One of the doctors announced her weight.

"One pound, ten ounces. We need to get her up to the NICU as soon as possible. We will be putting her on a ventilator, and she will hopefully improve, not the other way around. Would you like to see her?" Gabriella nodded. As soon as the doctor showed them their baby, Gabriella started crying. She was tiny, and her skin was still slightly transparent. Troy gripped her hand, trying to hold back tears himself.

"Is she going to be OK?" Troy asked, worried.

"We will know more in seventy-two hours." He smiled reassuringly and placed the tiny baby into a isolated case and started rolling her out of the room. Gabriella cried harder.

* * *

It had been five hours since their baby had been brought to the NICU. Gabriella had been brought to a private room and Troy was with her. Raine and Rocket were sleeping with their grandparents, who were waiting out in the O.B. ward.  
"We should name her." Gabriella said out of the blue. Troy turned and smiled.

"Have anything in mind?"

"Well, I really like the name Lilith, Lily for short." Troy seemed to think this over for a moment, then smiled.

"I like it. How about a middle name? How about Rose?"

"Lily Rose Bolton. I like it." Gabriella smiled and laid her head back on the pillow. "Do you think that I did the right thing? Going ahead with the birth?"

"I think we did. If the medication hadn't worked, and it probably wouldn't have, Lily would have had even less of a chance at life. I think that you did the right thing. And whatever happens, I will still think it." He took her hand and held it. "Is it OK if I go ask the doctor if we can go up and see Lily?" Gabriella nodded and Troy stood up, walking out of the room. Raine was awake, still in her pink fuzzy, and ran over to Troy, grabbing onto his leg and sticking out her bottom lip, looking up.Troy smiled and picked her up. As soon as she was in his arms, she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Dada?"

"Yea, sweetie?" He kissed her head.

"Where mama?" She then stuck her fingers into her mouth.

"Mommy is resting." Raine nodded. Troy then turned to his parents. "I am going to go see if we can go see Lily." At the confused look on everyone's faces, he explained. "We decided on a name for her. Lily Rose."

"That's very pretty." Mrs. Bolton said, smiling slightly. Troy nodded and walked over to the desk.

"Um..my wife delivered a couple hours ago. We were wondering if we could see our baby up in the NICU." The nurse looked up, smiling.

"Well, let me give them a ring. Name?"

"Bolton." The nurse called the NICU and talked with the man on the other line for a few minutes about 'baby Bolton'. Then hung up, turning back to Troy and Raine.

"Sure. We will need to have your wife use a wheelchair, but you can see her now." They were soon up there. There were several baby's, some looked healthier, some looked worse than Lily. Every available corner was packed with one machine or another. They each beeped in turn, sometimes beeping faster, indicating that something was wrong. They were led over to the corner, to where there were four beds set up. Lily was in one, machines hooked up to her all around. She had a tube in her mouth, and an IV in her arm.

"She is doing as well as can be expected. We have her on a warmer, for her body is not very strong, and her is not heating right. The warmer is warming most of her body, but we need to put a cream on her legs and arms often. Would you like to do it once?" Troy nodded.

"We can touch her?" Gabriella asked.

"Yes. But be careful." They stayed with Lily as much as they could. Often, Gabriella would be taken back to her room, but she wanted Troy to stay. Rocket and Raine went home with Mr. and Mrs. Bolton, where they would stay half of the week, then go to stay with Ms. Montez. Finally, seventy-two hours later, Troy asked again.

"How is she doing? What are her chances of survival?"

"Well, she seems to be doing well. However, her lungs are extremely weak, and I am worried about the pressure of the ventilator ripping them. I would put her chances at fifty percent. We will see what happens over the next few days. I am sorry I couldn't give you better news." Troy nodded, taking the tiny hand of his daughter. "We are developing a new drug, to help stregnthenyoung baby's lungs. And although we already have something to do that, we are working on one that will do the job better.The drug is complete, but is still highly experimental. If her case goes downhill, we will ask you to sign a concent form saying we can try it. We have had a ninety-three percent success rate in baby's born after six months. We can't force you to sing the form, but if the time comes..." He trailed off.

"We might sign it. Are you saying it will come to that?"

"No, I am saying _if_." Troy nodded again and the doctor walked off. Gabriella was brought in a few hours later.Lily was moving around slightly, but her movements were limited because of the various tubes and IV's in her body. Gabriella leaned on Troy as he wrapped his arms around her. This was hard. He didn't think he could take it if she died. He wanted her to live, he would do anything. Why did this have to happen to them? To Lily? She was so small, weak. Her eye's were exactly like Gabriella's. In fact, she was a mirror image of her mother. Troy knew she would grow up to be beautiful, like her mom.

"Do you think she will make it?" Gabriella asked in a small voice.

"I don't know." Troy said, hugging her tighter and resting his chin on her hair, taking in the scent of her shampoo. It was Vanilla.

"I don't want her to die." She started crying quietly, the tears soaking through Troy's shirt. He didn't want her to die either. His little girl had to live. "Was it my fault?"

"What?" Troy asked, confused.

"Was it something I did while I was pregnant? Something I should have known?" She looked up at Troy, tear still making their way down her face.

"No. I am sure it was nothing we could have prevented. You did everything you could have for her. It was not you fault." He didn't want her blaming herself. She had tried to kill herself the last time she had blamed herself for something. "It's not your fault." His voice faded into the background, the beeping of the machine beside him pulling him into it's rhythm. He was pulled from his peace when the machine beside him suddenly made a loud, steady screeching sound. it was Lily's machine.

* * *

Well? What should I make happen? Should Lily die? Do you like the name Lily, or should I change it? Personally, I love the name Lilith Rose. If I ever have a child, a girl that is, I would name her that.

Sigh I am going to update tomorrow, I hope. Maybe not...

Please Review! 


	21. Lily's Problem

Man! I got a lot of reviews! Some were strange, though. One person suggested I kill Lily! Yes, you know who you are. Well, I guess you will find out of Lily dies in this chapter. I am not going to make it a very long, drawn out thing. I think I am going to skip a few years in one of the upcoming chapters, or maybe in the end of this one.

Well, enough taking...writing? On with the story!

**P.S.** Thanks to Monica for betaing!

* * *

Gabriella gripped onto Troy tightly as a doctor shoved her out of the way to get to Lily. He didn't seem to do much, just check a few things. The machine continued to screech loudly. Why wasn't he doing anything to help her? Gabriella thought, watching as he calmly took readings of the numbers and letters that were on the screen. Gabriella understood none of it. Soon, he turned to them, a smile on his face.  
"Whats wrong?" Gabriella asked urgently.

"Nothing. Sorry for the scare. The machine is just beeping to tell us that she has begun to breathe on her own without to much trouble with her lungs. We are going to keep the tube in for a while, just to be sure, but it looks as though her chances for a normal life have raised to about seventy percent. I think the drugs we gave her worked. In some children, they don't. But Lily seems to be putting them to work. She is doing great." Troy smiled and hugged Gabriella. Just then, a loud squeal from across the room made him look up.

"Dada!" It was Rocket. He ran to Troy, grabbing onto his leg tightly and looking up into his face.

"Hey, squirt." He looked up to see his mom and dad enter the NICU. They were both wearing yellow coats, like Gabriella and Troy. The doctors must have made them wear the coats as well, so not to pass to many germs that may be on their clothes to the premature baby's, who were easily infected. Looking down, Troy relived that Rocket was also in a yellow coat, although it was much to big for him. Raine toddled not far behind Rocket, also grabbing onto one of Troy's legs.

"Sorry about this, they wanted to see you guys, so we brought them for a short visit. We also want to see how Lily is doing." Mr. Bolton said, smiling at the tiny baby. Lily still had yet to open her eye's.

"Thanks dad. I think it is high time these two see their little sister, anyway." He picked Rocket off of his shoe while Gabriella took Raine. They lifted them up to where they could see Lily. Raine pointed at her, looking back at Gabriella questing.

"That's your sister." Raine looked back, still looking like she didn't understand. She reached out a hand and placed it on Lily's stomach. Lily reacted by kicking out her leg, trying to reach the hand further up. Raine giggled and smiled, looking backup at Gabriella, her teeth showing. Gabriella grinned and kissed Raine's forehead, placing her on her hip and turning to the Bolton's. Rocket was still looking at Lily, wondering where she had come from.

"They said that Lily is reacting to the drugs well, and her chances have gone up to seventy percent." Mrs. Bolton smiled, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"That's great. Do they know what caused the premature labor yet?"

"No. I do not think they have the slightest clue."

"Yea, Troy was a month and a half early, and they never found out. Said it was probably just an accident." Gabriella looked down at Raine, who was now sucking on her shirt.

"No, Raine. Here," She pulled out a purple flower teething ring from her purse and handed it to Raine. Although she was almost through teething, she still liked to suck on things. "Suck on this." Raine grabbed the ring and then threw it as far as she could. Gabriella went after it, relieved that it had not hit any of the children in the NICU. "Maybe we should go outside." Everyone agreed and they went out into the halls, Troy immediately taking off his yellow coat.

"Well, it looks as though Lily is going to be fine. Thank God." Mr. Bolton looked at the floor. He knew how Troy felt. When it was Troy's life that was on the line, he would have done anything for him. But there was nothing he could have done. Back when Troy was born, premature baby's, under seven months, had almost no chance for survival. He was born two weeks ahead of that time period, and although he knew he shouldn't have let himself hope so much, he let his hopes soar when the doctor said that Troy's chances for survival were fifty percent.

"So, where did you come up with the name Lily? it is pretty, but I have never heard of it before." Mr Bolton asked, picking up Raine, who was currently pulling on his pants.

"I read it in a book." Gabriella said.

"Which one?" Troy asked, a hint of a smirk on his face. "You only read a hundred while you were on bed rest."

"I forgot. But the name stuck with me, and I promised myself I was going to put up a fight if our baby was a girl. I liked the name the second I saw it."

"Well, good thing I like it too. I wouldn't want to get in a fight with you." Gabriella smiled and sighed, looking down. Raine was back at her feet. She picked her up. "Raine, make up your mind."

"Gapa!" Troy laughed as Raine struggled to be put down. The second her feet were on the ground, she made a run for Mr. Bolton. They all laughed when she squirmed to be put down. This time, however, she went for Troy. He passed Rocket to Gabriella and picked her up. Raine seemed content with these arrangements, and stayed where she was. The only problem was, Rocket wanted to go to Troy, too. He grabbed at his Troy's pants, his lip starting to stick out.

"Please don't cry." Troy pleaded. But nonetheless, Rocket started crying. Troy groaned, looking to his dad for help.

"Don't look at me. Man, I am glad you were an only child."

* * *

"No, Lily, don't eat that...Raine, put that down! Rocket! Get out of the toilet!" Troy ran across the living room and into the bathroom, pulling the three-year-old Rocket out of the toilet. Rocket under one arm, and Lily under the other, he went back into the living room to grab Raine and take the car keys out of he mouth. Lily started crying and Rocket was soaking wet with god knows what. "When does your mother get home?" Troy asked no one inpitulicar.  
"I 'o no.. Daddy, I watch 101 Dalmatians?" Raine asked, looking hopefully up at Troy.

"Sure. Will you keep Lily in here, Raine? I need to give your brother a bath." Raine nodded and took Lily's hand, leading her over to the TV. Troy quickly stuck the tape in the VCR and started it. Lily, who had never seen it before, was instantly captivated by the colored dogs running across the screen. Lily, unlike Raine, still had yet to say her first word. They had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the following Monday. They wanted to run some tests to see if she could speak. Most, although not all, children can at least babble nonsense by age one. Lily hadn't barely uttered a sound, beside crying, and didn't like to do that often. She was also unresponsive to loud noises and Troy and Gabriella calling her. The doctors were afraid that she might be deaf.

After washing Rocket up, Troy walked back into the living room and set him on the couch in between Raine and Lily. Lily leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, unlike most older brothers would do. But Troy had been noticing that Raine and Rocket were very protective of Lily. When they went to the park, and other little kids would pick on Lily for being so small, a side effect of being born premature, Raine and Rocket would step in. Troy sighed and walked over to the corner of the room, where he had his work desk set up. He started working on one of the reports he had to have ready for work the following morning, wishing that Gabriella would get back from her day out with Kelsi and Taylor soon.

* * *

"I'm back!" Came Gabriella's happy voice hours later. Troy had just gotten Raine and Rocket to sleep, and was now laying Lily down in Raine's room. He smiled and walked out, greeting Gabriella with a big kiss.

"Hello, beautiful."

"Oh, stop that. How were the kids?"

"Fine." Troy lied, not wanting her to worry about how disastrous his day had been. "Lily still isn't responding to loud sounds though, and still won't come when I say her name."

"Do you think she is deaf?"

"I don't know. But don't worry, we'll be fine. We got through Raine's attacks. Although they haven't stopped yet. Come on, I am dead, lets go to bed." He yawned and walked into their bedroom, and after stripping down to boxers and a T-shirt, he climbed into bed, hoping the next day would be better.

* * *

"What! I finished the stupid report, all three of them!" Troy yelled. He couldn't, not right now, he just couldn't...

"I am sorry, but your lack of work days has been adding up. You are fired." Troy clenched and unclenched his fists.

"I have been missing work because all three of my kids came down with the flu at the same time, andI have just found out that my youngest daughter is deaf. Raine had another attack, and she was hospitalized for a week because she was deprived of oxygen and she needed special medications she couldn't get anywhere else."

"I said I am sorry." Troy's boss began to walk off. Now what was he going to do? The hearing aids and speech therapy for Lily was going to have tremendous costs, and he just lost his job! This week sucked so far. Troy began clearing out his work area and sighed. What was he going to do now? His answer cam in the paper two days later. He was trying to get Rocket and Raine to keep most of their cereal and milk in their bowls, and not throwing it at each other, when he saw an add in the newspaper. The fourth grade Basketball team was searching for a coach. Perfect.

Two days later, he got the job. Lily went in for more tests to confirm her hearing problem, and if it could be reversed. It couldn't. She was deaf, and would require hearing aids for the rest of her life, and for her to learn how to use sign language at a very young age. Troy had wanted to wait until she was older, but the specialist said it would be best to start her young...young minds can learn and remember things better than the older mind.Another problem was approaching. Raine and Rocket were starting preschool in five months, and the school required 300$ down payment for each of them to enrol them in the school. That was going to be a very big problem.

* * *

Yup. Threw to much at you in one chapter, didn't I? Well, I have decided to skip a few years. I am thinking of ending this in a few chapters. I have three written out, and the last one has something you could consider a good ending. Would you like me to stop?

Well, Please Review! 


	22. Lily's Problem Pt: 2

Well, here you go. Sorry for it beging so short! I am still on my trip, and I am having fun. Turns out, my mom invited my boyfriend, Jessie. Anyway, we just got done swimming and I am updating really quick before we go to dinner.

**P.S. **Thanks to all my reviewers and to my beta, Monica.

* * *

Troy dropped his keys on the table and dropped down on the couch. 

"Hard day?" Gabriella asked, coming into the room with a half asleep Lily.

"Yes. Now I know how my dad felt. Those kids can't even throw the ball in a straight line, although Gregory sure surprised me by making two hoops." He grinned despite himself.

"Well, in a few months, I am sure you will have shaped them up. Oh, Chad called today, he wants you to call him back." Gabriella sat down beside Troy. Lily reached out to him, wanting to go to him. Troy grinned and kissed her head, pulling her into his lap. She started making shapes with her hands. Gabriella laughed. "She is doing better. She is learning to do some simple letters now. I am surprised she could even do that. Maybe Haven was right. She is good at what she does. Lily can do the letters A B and C already. And she understands us perfectly now, thanks to the hearing aids.

"Great. Lily, do A." Lily took a second, but made her small hand into the sign for A. Troy grinned again.

"You do know we have to teach it to Raine and Rocket so they can talk with her, right?"

"Yea. It shouldn't be hard." Just then Raine came into the room. She was wearing Kahki shorts and a purple T-shirt. Her hair, which was curly like Gabriella's, but about the same color as Troy's, was hanging down. Gabriella hadn't bothered to put it up.

"Mommy? Can Lily pway wif me?" She was three and a half, and still had trouble forming some of her words. Not uncommon for a young child.

"Sure, Raine. But be nice." Raine jumped up and down, taking Lily's hand once she was ont he ground and leading her into their room. Troy and Gabriella decided to have them share, as they were both girls. They had moved Lily into Raine's room a few days ago, she was to old to be sleeping in their room.

"She looks like you." Troy said, watching them go. When he had met Gabriella, he really didn't expect to have three children four years later.

"Yea, I guess she does."

"You guess? She is going to look exactly like you. She will need Rocket to keep all the boys away." Gabriella swatted his arm, he just smiled.

"Well, thank you. I should go start dinner." Just then the doorbell rang. Gabriella pulled herself up off the couch. "I should answer the door." She walked over and pulled open the door. It was Chad and Taylor. The wind was blowing, and she was glad that Troy had decided to get an apartment that had only four apartments to it. They were all conjoined, one beside the other, and shared the large front yard. Everyone was nice, some even had kids. It was a large area, large enough to play in. Just then, Rocket abonded his large mud pile in the front yard and ran up to Gabriella.

"Mommy! 'ad and Taywor are here!" He jumped up and down. Troy, who could see the mess he was going to cause if he got inside, shot up and grabbed him around the waist, holding him at arms legnth.

"Hey Chad, Taylor. Rocket, what on earth have you been doing?" He asked his son, who clearly wanted down.

"Lemme down and I show you!" Troy did let him down, and the secone he did, Rocket grabbed his hand and dragged him off and into the large mud puddle he was playing in in the dirt driveway. It ha rained recently, and, althought the grass had dried, the mud had not.

"What is it?" He asked, looking at the crude mud structure. It was limping slightly to the side, for it was still wet.

"It's a mudman!" He was grinning, his eye's shinning with happiness. Troy could see that he wanted him to like it, so he did.

"Wow! It's great. How about a bath?" Rocket did not object to this, for in the next moment, he was trying to pick mud out of his ears. They walked back to the apartment, hand in hand. Troy knew that if he could go back in time, have the chance to change things, he wouldn't do a thing. Rocket, Raine, Lily and Gabriella were his life. He wouldn't give them up for anything. When they arrived back in the house, Lily was showing Chad and Taylor her sign laungage. When Troy arrived, he immedatly steered Rocket toward the bathroom and gave him a quick clean up. Man, this boy needed more baths in a week than Lily and Raine put together. Oh, well. Boys will be boys. When thye were done, they joined everyone in the living room.

"OK, now that were all here." Taylkor paused as Lily climbed off her lap and walked to Troy, grabbing onto his leg and trying to pull herself up. Once she was sat down, Taylor continued. "Me and Chad have news." SHe smiled widly, and as if she couldn't contain in anymore, she burst out, "Chad asked me to marry him!"

"Wow! Congratulations!" Gabriella said, grabbing Taylor and pulling her into a hug. Troy just smirked.

"Finally. I was getting worried Chad would never get his butt moving."

"Ah, shut-up. At least I did it. Now, Jason on the other hand..." He trailed off and everyone laughed. Lily laughed as well, although she didn't even know what she was laughing about, and soon got the hickups.

"When is the wedding?" Gabriella asked, excited.

"Um...June. That would make it in...four months." Taylor said. The four talked for hours, ending up boring the kids into an early nap. It was two in the afternoon before Taylor and Chad said that they had to leave. Just before they walked out, Lily walked up to Taylor, her fingers in her mouth. She held out a piece of paper, looking at the gorund. Taylor took it from her, smiling.

"Whats this?" Lily just shrugged, still looking at the ground. Taylor looked at it. It was a picture of a kitten with a dog. "It's pretty. Thank you." She hugged Lily. Lily squrimed with happiness, looking up at Taylor proudly. She gave Lily one last hug and stood up.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you. By the way, Lily looks exactly like you, Gabriella." And with that, Chad hauled Taylor out of the door, whining about being late for work. Troy turned to Gabriella.

"Told you she did."

* * *

Lily was now a year and three months, and still hadn't spoken a word. The doctors were concerned. It could be she was just a late bloomer, but it could be several other things. Troy and Gabriella were at Haven's office, the specilist in children's disabilitys. 

"So why isn't she talking yet?" Lily was sitting on Gabriella lap as she said this.

"I don't know. When was the last time she cried, screamed or just made a noise." Gabriella thought for a minute, then looked over, frightened.

"I don't know. She hasn't cried much ever, even as an ifant."

"I am going to assume that, along with her disability to hear, he cannot speak as well. She was crying when she was young, though not much. It is probably been like this from the start, but not so bad. If she does not start talking within the next week, or make noise or cry, I want to run more tests. For now, I think it would be best if we continued to teach her sign lanugage. Her hearing aids are still working?" Gabriella nodded. Troy placed his arm around her waist as she sat Lily on her own chair in between them and Dr. Haven.

"OK, Lily, can you hear me?" Lily nodded, having gone through this rutine each time she was there, and knowing what she was supposed to do. "Please go through the letters we have learned so far." Lily made the hand signals, and although some of them were a little off, she did them fine. Altogether, she had learned eleven letters. "I am surprised she is learning so fast. Most children I work with do not do as they are told, and it is hard to get them to learn. Lily is goos, though.

"Thank you." Troy said. They worked on the letters L, Mand N for the rest of the day. They also taught her the signs for some simple words, like food, mom, dad and some more she would need until she could learn how to spell what she was saying. When Troy and Gabriella brought her home, she immedatly fell asleep. Raine and Rocket were with Gabriella's mom, and Troy left to go pick them up. When he got there, they were both happy to see him.

"Hey, guys!" He picked Raine up as Rocket refused to let go of his leg. He then turned to Ms. Montez. "Thank you for watching them. Lily tends to get distracted when they are there. It is best if it is just me and Gabriella."

"No problem. We made cookies, didn't we?" Raine nodded, placing her still sticky hand on Troy's shoulder.

"Well, I am glad they had fun."

"How is Lily doing?" Ms. Montez asked, moving aside so Troy could come in.

"Good, I guess. She learned three more letters today and some simple words like food, mom, dad, hurt, stuff she would need. Me and Gabriella are teaching Rocket and Raine sign laungage so they can talk with Lily when they all learn how to spell. I am just glad they we caught this when we did. The doctor said that once she is older, it will be harder for her to learn. Learning young is better." Troy said, not quite wanting to tell Ms. Montez agout the possibility that she couldn't speak either.

"Troy, is something wrong?" He decided to get it over with now. If she learned that he didn't tell her later, she wouldn't be happy.

"There is a possibilty that she cannot speak as well." Ms. Montez gasped. "Yea. We won't know more for a while now. I was talking with a vocal cord specialist today, after the appointment, and he said the reason for her inability to speak, if that is what it is, could be from one of the drugs they gave her when she was born. She was on many medications for a long period of time, and one, or a mix of two, could have damaged her vocal cords. That would explain why it happened over a period of time, and not as soon as she was born." He took a deep breath, looking across the room to where Rocket and Raine were playing with building blocks.

Troy only stayed for a little while, Gabriella had called and asked if he could be home soon. She had finished dinner and was waiting for them, and it was close to the twins bedtime. He said good-bye to Ms. Montez and packed the twins into the car, driving back to their apartment. When he arrived, Gabriella was trying to get Lily to eat.

"Has she spoken yet?" Troy asked hopefully.

"Not a sound. She hasn't cried, laughed, or said a word." She sighed and took the spoon, whiping food off of Lily's mouth and trying again. Troy placed the twins in their spots and sat down as well. After dinner, they put the children to bed and went out to watch a movie.

"What do you want to watch?"Troy asked, looking through the movies they owned. They had now had a large amount of kids movies, including Finding Nemo, 101 Dalmations, The Lady and The Tramp, and Rocket's favorite, Buzz Lightyear and Star Command.

"I don't know. How about...Finding Neverland?" Troy smiled and popped the tape in.

"You're a hopeless romantic, you know that?"

"So? You're just as hopeless." Troy smiled and setteled back, Gabriella curling up into his side, to watch the movie.

* * *

Well, here you go. What should happen? Should Lily be mute(Not able to speak)? Should she not be? Should I finish this up? I am running out of ideas, so unless you can give me some, or I can think of some, I will end and make a sequel sometime.

Please Review!


	23. Damien, Michelle and School Musicals

I am going to do a little more time skipping in this chapter. I am also introducing several new characters. I love the reviews, and since so many people suggest that I make Lily able to talk, I am considering it.

From now on, I need to have this important note in my authors notes: 'is signing' & "is talking"

Also: _Damien singing is ITALICS._ **Lily singing is BOLD.** Both singing is UNDERLINED.

**P.S.** Thanks to my beta, Monica.

* * *

Gabriella washed the dished as Lily played in her food. She was playing around, silently piling her food into large mountain shaped objects on her food tray. Raine and Rocket were outside, playing in front of the window to where Gabriella could see them. They were playing with a Frisbee, trying to throw it. Troy was sitting on the ground, and every once in a while, he would get up and show them how to throw. They were having a lot more fun trying to throw it than when they actually got it right. Well, what can you expect from a three-year-old? Gabriella finished the dishes an turned to Lily, who was still carefully adding to her piles. She smiled and picked her out of the high chair, walking over to the sink and washing her off. Once Lily was clean, Gabriella brought her outside and set her on the grass. She grabbed onto Troy's leg and stood up, walking over to Rocket and Raine.

"The doctor said that Lily's hearing is getting worse." Troy said out of the blue. He had had to go alone with her that morning, for Gabriella had to take the twins to the doctor for their appointment. It was just a check-up, but she had to go nonetheless.

"I know." They didn't talk for what seemed like forever. Finally, Troy turned back to Gabriella.

"What do you want to do? If her hearing gets so bad that even the hearing aid won't help, what will we do?"

"I don't know. When she goes to school, it will be hard for her, she will have to go to a special school for disabled children. I was on the Internet today, and I was looking up schools like that. I found a few in our ar-" Gabriella was cut off as Rocket ran up, screaming in excitement.

"MOMMY, DADDY!" He paused to catch his breath. "Come over here, Lil's said her first word!" Troy and Gabriella shot up, running over to where Lily sat on the ground, looking as if nothing had happened. "Come on, Lil's, say for mom and dad!" She looked up, smiling.

"Mama!" Gabriella swelled with pride. Her little girl had said mama.

"Well, that's two to one. Raine and Rocket said Dada first, and Lily said mama." Right now, Troy could care less what she said first, as long as she said something. He picked her up and swung her around in circles. He was proud of her.

* * *

_(10 years later )_

Lily walked the halls of her school. She had been going there for six years now, and she still hadn't made many friends, just Michelle. She flipped her dark hair back, wishing her mom would let her cut it. As her dad had said a lot, she looked exactly like her mother. Her hair was the same, she had the same eye's, same build, everything. Her thirteen-year-old brother, and his twin, Raine looked like a mix of their parents. Jarod was a replica of his father. He was two. She sighed, though not really hearing it. Her hearing had gotten worse over the years, and now even her hearing aid only helped a little. She had mastered sign language at four, and was now spelling everything she said. Her school was for special children, and they were separated into groups accordingly. There were ten people in her group, children who couldn't hear. Suddenly, as she was walking, she bumped into someone.

The kid didn't say anything, and Lily was going to consider him rude until she recognised him as one of her classmates. He had trouble hearing, unless he was wearing a special hearing aid, and though he could hear half of the time, he didn't like wearing it, and had asked him mom if he could come to the special school to be around people like him. He didn't like being picked on. He started rapidly signing with his hands.

'I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going'

'That's fine. Hi, I'm Lily.' Lily spelled back, she was learning how sign with complete words, but was having trouble, so she either spoke when she was with her family, and they signed back, or kept her sentences short. The kid that had bumped into her was also signing with letters, she assumed that he was still learning as well.

'I'm Damien. Aren't you in my class?'

'Yea, I am.' And from that moment on, the two started hanging out. It turned out that Damien was her age, eleven, and liked to play basketball like her. After school, she invited him over, and he called his mom to ask if it was OK. He ended up having to get a teacher to do it, as he couldn't hear. When his mom said yes, the got on the bus. As soon as the bus pulled up in the driveway of her apartment, they jumped off it.

'This is where you live?' He signed.

'Yea, #A3.' She led him to the door and pushed it open. Rocket and Raine were sitting on the couch, watching a movie. They had gotten home before she did, because her school got over thirty minutes later. Jarod immediately ran up to Lily, grabbing onto her leg. He had also bee premature, and he had the same hearing problem, though his was not half as bad. With the hearing aids, he could hear fine, and he doctors said it would stay thay way.

'Hey, Jason.' Lily signed, sighing when she realized that he couldn't spell yet, she looked at Raine for help. She stood up fro the couch.

'Who's this?' She pointed at Damien as soon as she was done signing.

'Damien. We met at school.' Lily smiled. 'We are in the same class.' Damien looked at the floor, a little shy. Lily took his hand and pushed him forward and began doing the signals she knew all to well by now. 'Damien, this is my brother, Jarod, then those two are Rocket and Raine. They are thirteen. Jarod is two, he has trouble hearing as well.' Damien nodded, looking around the small apartment. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

Lily sat in the seat beside her other friend, Michelle. Michelle had a different disability, she was almost blind. Michelle had asked Lily to come with her, their class was having a musical, and Michelle played the piano. She was scared, for there were some older people coming, and just wanted a friend there. Damien was also there.  
"OK, people. Lets start. I would like each person, when I call you name, to come up and sing a few bars of the song you have been practicing, and I will tell you if you can be in this musical or not. Now, Kelly Dodson!" The young director sat back, smiling. A young girl, looking to be about ten, walked up onto the stage and started singing. Lily's school was doing a special musical, only disabled children were allowed to be in it. It was going to be at a local theatre. The school children were doing it to help sponsor disabled kids who couldn't afford the things they needed. Hearing aids, seeing-eye dogs, special therapy, everything. It was going to be big. Lily had worn her hearing aids today, and could hear a little of what was going on around her. Michelle started playing the piano, and only a few seconds into the song, the director, Ms. Nesson, told her to stop. She drooped of. Kid after kid sang, only a few impressing Ms. Nesson. Damien walked up onto the stage, Lily was surprised. How could he sing if he didn't know what he sounded like? Oh, he was wearing his hearing aids. 

He started singing, and surprisingly, Ms. Nesson smiled again, letting him go through the whole song.

"Any last minute sign ups?" Ms. Nesson said, as well as signed. Many of the kids couldn't hear, and therefore might have missed their chance. Lily sighed, Damien could do it, so could she. She raised her hand, walking up to Ms. Nesson.

"I would like to addution." She couldn't hear herself, but she knew she had said it. This was going to be hard.

'Very well. We have only had one pair addution for the lead role, so if you would be so kind to pair with Damien...' She stopped signing, it being more of a question than a demand. Damien smiled, happy that he would have a chance at the lead role on the show. He hopped up on the stage and handed Lily a piece of paper with the song on it. The music started, and Lily, not knowing what she sounded like, braced herself for the worst. She paid extreme attention to the music notes on the paper, because she couldn't hear the music, and didn't know the tune to well. She had heard it a lot when she still had most of her hearing with the aids.

_We're Soarin', Flyin'  
There's not a star in heaven  
that we can't reach_

Lily waited for Damien to finish his part, then _s_he started singing.

**If we're trying  
****So we're breaking free**

_You know the world can see us  
__In a way that's different than who we are_

**Creating space between us  
****'Til we're seperate hearts**

But you faith  
It gives me strength  
Strength to believe

_We're breakin' free  
_**We're soaring  
**_Flying  
_There's not a star in heaven  
That we can't reach  
_If we're trying  
_Yeah, we're breaking free  
_Oh, we're breaking free_

_You can feel it building  
__Like a wave the ocean just can't control_

**Connected by a feeling  
****Ohhh, in our very souls**

Rising 'til it lifts us up  
So everyone can see

_We're breaking free  
_**We're soaring  
**_Flying  
_There's not a star in heaven  
That we can't reach  
_If we're trying  
_Yeah we're breaking free  
**Ohhh running  
**_Climbing  
__To get to that place_  
To be all that we can be  
_Now's the time  
_So we're breaking free...

_More than hope  
__More than faith  
_**This is true  
****this is fate  
****And together  
**We see it coming  
_More than you  
__More than me  
_**Not a want but a need**

Both of us breaking free

**Soarin'  
**_Flyin'  
_There's not a star in heaven  
That we can't reach  
If we're trying  
_Yeah, we're breaking free  
_**Breaking free..  
We're running**  
_Ohhh, climbin'  
_To get to the place  
to be all that we can be  
Now's the time  
_Now's the time  
_**So we're breaking free  
**_Ohhh, we're breaking free  
_**Ohhh...**  
You know the world can see us  
In a way thats different than who we are...

Ms. Nesson clapped, standing up. Lily smiled, realizing she couldn't have been that bad, otherwise Ms. Nesson would probably be kicking her out by now. The other pair that had addutioned, Max and Shelle, were standing to the side, looking slightly disappointed. Max had seeing problems, as his friend, Shelle did. They had met in class their class.

"That was wonderful! Callbacks are on Wednesday, please show up people. My aunt, Ms. Darbus, had problems with children that didn't show up." Lily didn't hear a word she said, but Damien translated for her. When they got out, Michelle was grinning from ear to ear, and gave both Damien and Lily a big hug. Lily was glowing with happiness. She couldn't wait to tell her mom and dad.

* * *

Lily threw open the door to her house and ran inside. She looked in each room, finally finding her dad and mom trying to give Jarod a bath. They noticed her and looked up.

'What is it, Sweetie?' Gabriella signed with her soapy hands.

'I auditioned for the musical! Me and Damien!' Troy looked over at Gabriella and smirked.

'Wow! I didn't know you could sing. You never tried.' He said.

'Yea, callbacks are on Wednesday.We sang Breaking Free, by Kelsi Cross, your friend. She got a CD out! I can't wait for the callbacks!' She grinned, Troy and Gabriella mirroring the look on her face. De' javu.

* * *

Wow, she is really following in her mom's footsteps now. D Well, what do you think of Damien, the musical, Max, Shelle, and everything? Hmm? Well, I have typed enough for today. Oh, and Kelsi Cross is Kelsi Nelson, she married Jason Cross (Real name, look at the back of his jersey) and put out a CD. 

Please Review!


	24. The Final Callbacks

Here's the next chapter! I am sorry it is late, but I was busy writing another story. Sorry again. So, in this chapter, we don't get to know Chad and Taylor's Kid(s) a little morebbut I will be doing that soon. Promise! Anyway, here it is. Another song in this chapter, by** Barlow Girl, On My Own**

**P.S.** _Thanks to my beta, Monica._

* * *

Lily pulled a light blue shirt over her head. It was white from the elbows down, and the middle of it was cut diagnoally with the bottem half matching the bottem of the sleeves. She tried to tie her shoes and grab her books at the same time as she hopped out of the door of her room. She was wearing kakhi cargo shorts with a lot of pockets and plain blue sneakers. She ran into the kitchen where her mom, dad and little brother sat, Raine and Rocket were still sleeping. Troy was reading the newspaper and Gabriella was trying to get Jerod t eat something thatresembled cat mush.Lily grabbed a piece of toast and started running out of the kitchen again. Gabriella reached out with her free hand and grabbed the hem of Lily's shirt, stopping her in her tracks. 

'What's the hurry?' She signed, giving up and putting Jerod's spoon down. She leaned back in her chair and looked up at Lily.

'I am meeting Damien and Michelle for practice. Final callbacks are during free period today.' She said back once she had stopped trying to get away from her mother. 'Can I go now?' Gabriella knew that if she was talking, her voice would have sounded a lot like Rockets when he was whining about something.

'Yea, go on. Oh, and good luck.' Gabriella smiled as her little girl ran out of the door to meet Damien and Michelle, who were witing for her. She turned back to Troy.

"Doesn't she remind you of us?" Troy grinned and picked up Jarod.

"Yup."

* * *

Lily, Damian and Michelle ran toward the addution room. They were going to be late, and Ms. Nesson probably wouldn't allow that. Lily had to go see the nurse because her ears suddenly started buzzing. It was cool, though, because she could actually hear something, even if it gave her a headache. It had stopped within a few minutes, so they wern't going to be to late. They werelast to addution. They entered just as Max and Shelle finished singing. Ms. Nesson smiled at them. 

"Michelle, hurry up." She said to Michelle, who had only seeing problems. 'Damien, Lily, up on stage, now.' They ran up, Damien handing Lily a mike. She was nervous. Very nervous. Michelle started playing the panio. It was the song that they had been practicing all week. She could do this. She started singing, not noticing her mom and dad silently enter the room._I can't believe that I"m here in this place again  
_

_How did I manage to mess up one more time?  
This pattern seems to be the story of my life  
Should have learned this lesson by the thousandth time_

_'Cause I promise myself I wouldn't fall  
But here I've fallen  
I guess I'm not as strong as I thought  
All I can do is cry to you_

**_Oh, you have to save me  
You're my last and only hope  
All my right answers fail me  
I can't seem to make it on my own_**

_I can't promise that I won't fall  
'Cause here I've fallen  
I know I'm not as strong as I thought  
All I can do is cry to you_

_I always thought that I would be strong enough  
What made all of them fall couldn't take me down  
_**_Yeah, did I think that I was above it all  
I have learned that pride comes before the fall_**

_I can't promise that I won't fall  
'Cause here I've fallen  
I know I'm not as strong as I thought  
All I can do is cry to you_

_Cry to you,_

_Cry to you..._

Lily finished the song, smiling at Damien. They had sung, now, did they get the parts? Ms. Nesson smiled at everyone.

"Great job, everyone. The cast list will be posted tomorrow morning." Damien, who was wearing his hearing aid, translated for Lily. Then they started talking.

'You were great." Damien told her.

'Thanks.' She smiled widly, happy that she had done well. She really didn't know how she sounded, but if she got the part, she wouldn't have any more doubts. She looked around the room, pulling in the sleeve of her shirt. They started walkig out of the room as soon as Michelle had packed up her stuff and joined them. Gabriella decided to make her pressence known. She walked out from behind the same wall that she and Troy had hidden behind when they wern't sure they had wanted to addution. All of the Bolton kids went to East high. Lily's school was a sub division that had been added a few years back. Lily had wanted to go to school around her family, so she had been transfured.

"Hi, mom!" She knew she had said, it but again, she coudn't hear herself.

'Hi, sweetie. You were great.' She hugged Lily, and then Damien. 'You both were.'

'Thanks, mom. How long have you been standing there? Is dad there?" She bent her head around the corner, almost falling over. Gabriella easily caught her, for she was quite small for an eleven year old. She was four foot ten, maybe not small in hight, but she only weighed eighty pounds. She was healthy, though, so Gabriella couldn't whine as much as she wanted to about Lily's small size. 'Hi, dad.'

'Hey, Lily.' He hugged her. 'We have to be going soon, Basketball tryouts for sixth graders in thirty minutes, and your mom has to take Jacob to day care before going to work.' Gabriella had gotten a job she could do during school hours while all of the kids were at school. She worked for the school as well, but as a private tutor for the kids with learning disabilitys. Rocket had actually been with her a few times. However, Raine and Lily never had to have private tutoring. They had both taken after their mom in the brains department.

'Sure. Yea, and me and Damien have to go to math, and Michelle has History. Speaking of which, Damien, did you do your homework?'

'Yea, most of it.' Lily sighed. Gabriella laughed.

" He remined me of you, Troy. All through out the rest of high school, I had to force you to do your homerowk." Troy just smirked.

'Well, we have to go. Sorry, Lil's.'

'It's OK, dad. I'll see you after school.' Just then the bell rang, it was the warning bell. Lily grabbed Damien's hand and pulle dhim along. They were going to be late. And their math teacher was very fond of giving detentions. It turned out that they were late, and they had to stay after school picking old bubble gum off of the tables in the Cafateria. It was not run, besides when Lily started flinging it at Damien, and he returned the favor. However, their math teacher walked in on this and made then stay fifteen extra minutes. When school was over, they parted, both not wanting to wait until tomorrow. The next day, the cast list would posted.

* * *

The next day, Lily was in more of a hurry. She was up, showered and out of the house in twenty minutes. When she got to school, Damien was waiting outside. 

'You look at the list yet?'

'Nope. Waiting for you. Why?'

'I want to know. Come on!' She pulled him inside and ran to stand right in front of the list.

* * *

Well, I am going to stop there. Sorry for the short chapter. The thunderstorms let up for about an hour, and I quickly wrote this. It could be a bit before the next one is up. Do Lily and Damien get the parts? Hmm? 

Please Review!


	25. Wrong Place And Time

OK, this chapter is a little different that the previous ones. I hope you like it, and I will now write so not to keep you away any longer. Have fun, and I am introducing mre characters. Wow, I only got 8 reviews. I am feeling a lottle unloved. Well, not really. D Hope you review this chapter!

**P.S. **Thanks to Monica, my Beta.

* * *

"YAHOO!" Damien yelled, pumping his fists into the air. Everyone around turned around and lookedat him. And Lily, for once in her life, was glad she was deaf. She was wearing her hearing aids today, and though she could normally hear much, she could almost hear Damien loud and clear. She smiled, looking at the cast list. Damien Cantrell and Lily Bolton--lead role. It looked as though Max and Shelle had parts of two people who hated each other. They were doing a school play that she had never heard of before. Not many other peoplethat Lily knew had made it. She turned to Damien, who was still smiling like a lunatic. Michelle walked up and looked over their shoulders to the list. Although she was the panio player, she had also addutioned. She smiled widly and started signing. She had learndsign laungagethat when she had met Lily and Damien. 

'This is so cool. I got a part! I can't wait. My mom is going to be so happy! When she was in school, she was the lead in all the school plays...exceptmost of theones for her high school years.' Suddenly, something hit Lily. No, it really couldn't be...

'Michelle, who are your parents?'

'Oh, my mom is a part time actor for small shows, and my dad works with computers. Why?'

'No, names, please.'

'Oh, my mom is Sharpay and my dad is Zeke. My dad is african americain, so that is why my skin is dark. I can't believe you haven't met them. Want to come over some time?' Lily nodded numbly. Wasn't Sharpay her parent's competors in the musicals? And wasn't Zeke on her dad's Basketball team? Well, used to be. Her dad had said that he had quit a few years ago when he had to move. Appearently, he had move back. Well, it would make sense, Michelle had just started going to school two months ago. Man, this was weird.

'Lily, what's wrong?' Damien asked, a worried look on his face. She just then realized that she hadn't responded for over two minutes.

'I'm fine.' She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him off to where Michelle had ran to go to their Math class. During class, they got quite a few ugly stares from Max and Shelle. She just grinned back, and Damien didn't even notice.He was to busy trying tokeep himself from drawing smily faces on his paper. Which theirteacher hated.Lily then looked over to Michelle. Shestill couldn't believe it. Michelle, her best friend, the daughter of the woman that her mom and dad spoke not so highly of. After Math, they went to history. School was pretty much normal. When it was over, Damien and Lily went to the mall. They were going tohang out and have something to eatbecause Lily's parent's had to work late, and Damien's were never home anyway. After eating, they got up and started walking around.

'So, what do you want to look at?' Damien asked her.

'Um...Music Albums. My mom said that her friend, Kelsi, got a new CD out. My dad and mom sang on it for the song Breaking Free.'

'Isn't that the one we sang?'

'Yea. Isn't it so cool?' They walked to the music section of the mall and spent a good twenty minutes shuffling through piles and piles of CD's until they finally got a salesman to help them. He showed them where her CD's were at and politly walked off.

'Cool. It is only $13.00. I think I will get it for mom for mother's day. It's coming up, and I can't think of anything else to get her.' Lily picked up the CD and paid for it with her allowance. After that, they wandered amlessly through the differentsections of the mallfor about an hour. They were in the rock collection section looking at different stones when it happened. Suddenly, a man in a black ski mask kicked the door open. Lily gasped and went white when she saw what he was holding. It was a gun. He started yelling.

"Everyone on the floor! If you set off an alarm, I will shoot everyone!" Lily couldn't hear, so Damien had to pull her onto the ground. They sat quielty in the corner while the man made sure everyone was down. "Now, stay like that. If anyone gets up, I will shoot. I don't mind the mess." He smiled wickedly as three other men entered the room. The lead man pointed the gun at the manager. "Got a phone?"

The situation was on the news within ten minutes. The men were holding everyone hostage, demanding 1,000,000 from the bank in cash.

"What do you mean, you can't do that?" The man was on the phone. It was set to speaker, to he didn't have to point the large gun away from everyone. "Well, the longer it takes, the more people die. Once your hour is up, one every fifteen minutes. Starting with this lovely little girl." He walked over to the corner that Lily and Damien were in and pulled her to her feet. "What is your name honey?" Lily knewthat he was asking something, but couldn't tell what, so she couldn't answer. "I asked you name!" He yelled louder. Damien stood up.

"Sir, she can't hear you. She's deaf." Damien could only hear because he had chosen to wear his hearing aid that day.

"Fine. What's her name? And yours?"

"S-she's Lily and I-I'm Damien." His moment of braveness had worn off and he was shaking again.

"Ok, Damien." He walked off to the phone again, hauling both Damien and Lily with him. TheTV was on, showing the ploice standing right outside the mall door. Some people had gotten out, but the people in the rock section and the ones surrounding it were trapped. Lily was shaking with fear as the man threw her onto the ground, Damien landing right next to her. She instinctivly moved closer to him, shaking badly. He put an arm around her shoulders in attempt to comfort her. It worked a little and Lily stopped shaking as bad. She moved into him, holding onto him as if her were a teady bear. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was just as scared as her. But she couldn't hear anything going on, hearing aids or not.

* * *

Gabriella was watching the news whenan important news announcmentcut into the weather. She had gotten home a little earlier than expected, and was now waiting for Lily. Troy had arrived minutes after her. As soon as the reporter started speaking, she knew something was serously wrong. Troy walked into the room and stopped, staring at the screen. 

"Turn it up, will you, Gabriella?" She nodded without speaking and turned up the TV as Troy sat beside her. The reporter started speaking again.

"The robber, I guess you could call him that, is holding forty-seven people hostage inside of this very mall. He is demanding an outragous 1,000,000 dollars in cash within the next hour, or he will begin eleminating hostages each fifteen minutes. Here is an inside look from one of the security cameras." He stopped speaking and moved to the side as small screen appeared and grew until it filled the screen. There were people everywhere, the four men in black holding out guns. The lead man, it seemed, looked straight into the camera, which also recorded sound. He spoke.

"I have two lovely kids here which will be killed in, oh, my, forty-five minutes andthe next in an hour. Which one first?" He turned back to the two children. The young boy stood up, placing the little girl behind him. He spoke in a shaky voice.

"I-I w-will." The screen went blank and once agian the reporter came back.

"And that is what is happening. At this time we cannot relese any names..." That was all Gabriella heard. She turned slowly to Troy, tears in her eyes.

"That was Lily and Damien." She said in a shaky voice.

* * *

Lily was scared. Damien was terrified. The man was having fun. 

"Really? You would die, to let the little girl live a little longer?" Though he had only known her for a short time, Damien thought he would do anything for Lily. He nodded.

"Very well. Oh, look. Forth-three minutes." He smirked up at the camrea then turned his gun back on Damien. "Now sit." He walked back over to the phone and started speaking again. Damien didn't hear much, because he was trying to get Lily to stop crying. He knew it wouldn't work, and that she had a right to cry, but it still hurt him to see her like that. He wanted to cry, scream, be held by someone himself,but he had to help Lily. She was a lot more scared than he was, or so it seemed. He held her. How could a man be so heartless to kill two eleven-year-olds, or ayone for that matter? Damiens still clung to the hope that they would make it. The police would make it, the bank would come up witht he money. Something, anything. The minutes slowly ticked by, the man making no more sick comments.

"What the hell is taking so long!" He yelled into the phone. Damien could just immagine the person on the other end cringing. The man dropped the phone and walked back over to Lily and Damien. "Seven minutes."Damien let a tear drop from his eye. Knowing this was it. He was going to die. And Lily was too. He looked down at her. The last few minutes seemed like forever. Finally, it came. The man looked Damien straight in the eye and smirked.

"Good-bye." Damien said to Lily the same time the man saidit to him. A loud, ear splintering explosion filled the room as Damien's body fell backword. Lily screamed.

* * *

Am I evil? Or am I evil? Well, I have to go practice. I am practicing Basketball because I plan to make the team in college. I made it in grade school, and in high school. I am going to make it now. I start soon. Anyway, gotta run. I am meeting Jessie, my boyfriend.He drove over to spend the weekend with us.I am gonna have a lot of run! 

You know the drill...Please Review!


	26. Everything Is Gonna Be OK PT:2

Well, thanks for the reviews. I got a lot, and more than one threat.Well, in this chapter, you will find out of Lily lives, and if Damien lives. I have been agonizing over it for a while, and finally came to a decision. I hope you like this chapter. And sorry ittook so long to get it up, took me a while, and several rewrites, to get it the way I wanted it. And another song in this chapter. I am getting into the habbit of doing that, I think I have a Musical! Hehe...

**P.S. **Thanks to Monica, my beta.

* * *

Lily screamed, running over to Damien's body and droping beside it. He was laying there, unmoving. His eye's were still open, and he was alive. But Liy knew he wouldn't stay that was for long. The bullet was in his stomach, and he was bleeding heavily. The man grinned evily down at them. He was going to let Damien die slowly, with no hope for life. Lily was crying, holding Damien's hand tightly. 

"Lily..." He said, blood streaming from his mouth. Lily could barly hear him, but somehow managed to. Her hearing aids were on, and it made her capable of hearing slightly. He coughed, more blood coming up. Lily wanted to look away, but she couldn't. Damien was dying, and she needed to be there for him. She gripped his hand tighter. The last words he would ever say to her, and she could barely hear him.

"I-I'm here, D-Damien."

"I-" But before he could complete his sentence, he went limp in her arms. Lily reached a shaking hand out to his neck, pressing her fingers to it, feeling for a pulse. It was there, but light and weak. She looked up at the man, still crying. She couldn't hear herself as she said it.

"H-how c-could y-you?" His evil smile didn't waver. He seemed to enjoy killing. He turned to the camera.

"The boy is dead. If you don't want the girl to follow him in thirteen minutes, you give me the money." Lily held onto Damien. She knew that a eleven-year-old couldn't know what real love was, but she was sure she did. Now, Damien was dead, or would be soon. This wasn't fair, life wasn't fair. She hated the man that had took Damien from her. He turned back to Lily.

"You die next." Sheglared up at him, forgetting everyone else in the room. The children were hiding behind their parents, and the parents trying to be brave. Damien was brave too, he had given his life so she could live longer, he was still alive, and there was nothing she could do to help him. If she could get him to a hospital, he would probably live, but that man was robbing her of that chance, Damien of that chance.

"I hate you." Lily said clearly, steadily. He just laughed. Suddenlt, the phone came to life. The man left Damien and Lily and walked over to it. He picked it up and yelled into it.

"Unless you have the money, don't bother calling!" He listened to the person on the other end for a second then spoke again. "Fine. She lives. I will send her out, she will take the bags and bring them back. No tricks, or five people die." He slammed the phone down and walked back to Lily. Pulling her up roughly by her sleve, he left her standing in the middle of the room and went and grabbed five little children, all under the age of eight. Every one of them were crying, absoutly terrified. Their parents were crying as well. Lily looked down at them all. The man spoke.

"I am sending you out to grab three bags. If you pull anything funny, all of these children die. Got it?" Lily nodded as the man roughly shoved her out of the room. She walked to the front door, shaking badly. The second she stepped outside, she was met with over a hundred people. Reporters started asking her questions as a young man walked up to her and bent down in fromt of her.

"Lily? I'm Mark. Here are the bags. I want you to bring them to the man, OK?" He said gently, rubbing ehr arm in a comforting gesture. Lily nodded and took the bags from him. They were heavy, filled with the money that the men were demanding. Mark helped her back through the thick croud of people and she once again entered the empty mall. It seemed eerily quiet, and it scared Lily.

* * *

Gabriella watched the news as Lily came walking out of the mall. She had been crying, and was covered in blood. The reporters were catching all this. A young man came up next to Lily and handed her the bags. Gabriella turned to Troy. Neither of them spoke, knowing that their daughter was phisically OK, that she would be better in time if she got away from this. They were still worried, but now that the man got what they wanted, would everyone be OK? 

"Why did this happen to her and Damien?" Gabriella asked, whiping tears from her face. Troy pulled her into a hug, wishing her could take away all of her pain, make everything OK. He just wanted Lily and Damien home safely. In the time that Lily had known Damien, Troy and Gabriella had grown to like the little boy.They loved himlike a son. Now, he was gone.

* * *

Lily entered the section of the mall that the man had taken over. She handed them, the bags and immedatly ran back over to Damien. He was still alive, though his eye's were closed and his breaths ragid and shallow. The men began looking through the bags. After many minutes, they seemed content. The man in charge turned back to the camera. 

"Thank you. Now, me and my friends are going to leave. We are taking this little one," He grabbed the sleve of a little girl the seemed to be about three, "with us. If you try to stop us, we will kill her. If you let us go, she will be dropped of somewhere with a phone. Now, so long." The men gathered up the bags and walked out, taking the little girl with them. The mother of the little was crying frantically.

"Mommy!" Came a call from the girl.

"Emma, it will be OK." She reached out to her little girl. Emma was crying, trying to get away from the man. Her mom was standing there, knowing if she did anything, they would kill her little girl. So, she stood there. There were sounds of ambulances in the now silent background. Once the robbers were out of sight, a medic ran into the room. He bent down by Lily and Damien.

"How is he?" He asked Lily gently as he started checking all of Damien's vitals. Lily just looked at him. She couldn't hear.

* * *

They all waited out in the waiting room. Lily had been given some bandaged for a small cut on ehr forehead, but ither than that, she was fine. They were all waiting in the OR waiting room. Damien's mother had been called, and she had arrived within minutes of Troy and Gabriella. Damien had been taken straight to the hospital and Emma, the little girl, had been found, shot, a mile from the mall. She had died on the operating table twenty minutes into the surgery. Lily looked up at her mom as she entered the room. She was holding some of Lily's clothes.Lily smiled a little, taking them from her and changing quickly in the bathroom. She was now wearing a slightly tight, pink, longsleved top and kakhi shorts. Even in cold weather, she loved shorts. Jean of Kakhi, because they matched with everything.

"Gabriella, could you go into the bathroom and keep an eye on Lily." Troy asked, remebering what Gabriella had done when he was in a coma from being shot. But it was sure Lily wasn't pregnant, one difference.

"Sure." She kissed him breifly on the cheak and walked into the bathroom. Lily was sitting in one of tyhe stalls, her legs brought up to her chest. 'Hey, Lily.' Gabriella walked up to her and pulled her into a hug.Lily signed back.

'Damien said something to me when he was dying, and I couldn't hear.' She looked up, her blue eye's shining with unshead tears.

'You know, something happened to your dad once, almost exactly like this. He pulled through just fine.' Lily just nodded, looking at the ground.

'Damien told the man that he would die first, so I would have a chance to live.' Gabriella smiled faintly.

'Well, he must really care about you, sweetie.' Again, Lily nodded, not wanting to speak. 'Come on, lets go see your brothers and sister and see how Damien is doing. Your father went to check things out.' Lily allowed Gabriella to lead her out of the bathroom. Rocket and Raine were sitting in the chairs, Jarod sitting on Raine's lap. Just then, Troy returned.

"How is he?" Gabriella asked.

"As good as can be expected. He had some organ damage, and might require a transplant, but they think he will be fine." Gabriella smiled, translating this to Lily. And for the first time since everything had happened, she smiled. She knew everything was going to be OK.

**THE END**

* * *

Well, decided to end on a good note. And I couldn't bring myself to kill Damien. He has become like, a main character, and I like him to much. Hope you like this chapter! And as always...

Please Review!


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